New Beginnings
by Trikkster
Summary: Sarah has beaten the maze and broken the Goblin King's heart. What happens now? Will Jareth be able to move on and find love, or is he doomed to be lonely forever? Warning! Eventual pairing:Jareth/OC. Safely Rated M for graphic but not too sexual scenes.
1. The Origin of The Six Kingdoms

Disclaimer: I do not own the movie "Labyrinth". It belongs to its respective owners, along with all creatures inside of it. I do however claim ownership to all new creatures and characters I introduce in this story (outside of the _terms _Fae and Underground and the concepts of unicorns, elves, Pegasi, fairies, and of course, mortals. Yes, those all belong to their respective owners), and the idea behind this story.I do not wish to profit from this story. It is SOLELY for entertainment purposes. :)  
A/N: So, what is this? This is my own Labyrinth Fanfiction, which I've worked really hard on for the past few weeks. The story itself focuses on events directly following Sarah completing the Labyrinth. I should make it clear now that all I know of the world of the Labyrinth outside of my own imagination is solely based on the movie, so if I get any information that would be considered wrong in light of the comics or any other storyline published by the franchise that is not included in the movie starring David Bowie, please do not be too critical of those mistakes. This is merely a creation of my imagination. A "what if", if you will. It is primarily centered around Jareth the Goblin King and one of my brainchildren that I've created for the story. A warning to readers: In this story Jareth is NOT a villain. This is mainly because I never was really scared of him when I watched the movie when I was little (aside from throwing that snake) and so I never have considered him a true villain but merely a love struck antagonist.  
This is the first part of the Prologue to the story. Why a Prologue and why two parts? A Prologue is here because I feel that to start the actual story at the spot I have selected, the reader needs to know facts about all the Kingdoms (Yes, there is more than just the Underground (where Jareth is) involved here) I have created and that are involved in the story. And in this part, "The Origin of the Six Kingdoms", the process by which each Kingdom was brought into existence is laid out in the best way I could provide for the reader. The reason why I will have two parts to my Prologue is simply because of its length. I tried to keep all the necessary information in one Prologue, and that made the Prologue itself too long. So please, enjoy.

And I'm sorry for this super long author's note. I just wanted to clarify some things. ;)

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**New Beginnings**

**Prologue Part 1:**

"**The Origin of the Six Kingdoms"**

The world is full of opposing forces balancing one another out. In order for there to exist an element of beauty, there must be an element of monstrosity. In order to have a sense of being powerful, there must also be a sense of being powerless. In order to acknowledge justice, there must also be injustice to compare it to. And in order for there to be good in the world, there must also be bad. It was with this idea that the original six kingdoms were created. And within these six kingdoms of Arisolt, Netherworld, Latvania, Bosnia, Underground, and Aboveground, there exists three pairs. These three pairs of kingdoms were designed to bring a sense of balance to the known universe and each kingdom was to be protected and inhabited by its own beings that were to do all they could to ensure that balance.

The first of the six kingdoms to be created was the kingdom of Arisolt, or the land of the angels. Existing in the heavens on beautiful pink and golden colored clouds, this land was full of surreal and kind beings of great power and authority. Each and every angel was known to be of exorbitant beauty and virtue, with long, flowing hair, gorgeous wings, and bright beautiful eyes. The ruler of this fine land, Queen Charisse, had long golden hair as radiant as the sun, with eyes that held all of the colors of the rainbow. With a heart of gold, she aided her fellow angels in constructing beautiful homes of marble and gold on each cloud, ending with the construction of her own beautiful castle of epic proportions within which the descendants of her line would reside. The angels not only tended to their homes of their realm, but also to the various creatures of their realm. These included swans large enough to pull the queen's ornate royal carriage to her destinations, and for other angels to be able to tame and ride themselves. Doves and various other birds flitted in and out of the windows of the homes of the clouds, singing their sweet songs and spreading joy and peace wherever they went. All of the angels performed services for the world below, such as allowing sweet, life-giving rain to fall from their clouds and for beautiful rainbows to shoot across the sky. The angels themselves enjoyed a carefree and beautiful life of parties and banquets, drinking luscious golden "nectar" derived from golden beams of sunlight. It was under Queen Charisse that the angels vowed to maintain a sense of peace in the world below. And they certainly needed to, for almost directly after their world was created, the horrid kingdom of the Netherworld would arise.

As the kingdom of Arisolt had been created, the world beneath it was flat and barren, with no life whatsoever. That all changed when in the center of that world, an enormous explosion occurred, as a large and deadly volcano sprang up from the earth with a cloud of ash and rivers of flowing lava that lasted for weeks on end. The eruption was so great that large mountain ridges were formed throughout the land, stretching across it like ugly scars. Once the volcano had calmed and become less active and as the ash cleared the angels looked down upon the kingdom of the Netherworld. It was a dark kingdom, residing within the volcano itself, and was full of deadly, grotesque demons of many shapes and forms. They lived in ashy huts on black stone ledges that ran along the inner sides of the volcano itself. In the center of the volcano's boiling lava lake on a stone island sat an enormous castle full of ugly twists and turns, many of which formed screaming faces of agony. Within this castle, the great King Adish resided. With great black horns set on his head and a body at least five mortal yards tall, he was an imposing figure, with claws for hands and dark hooves for feet. The demon was the color of the lava that the Netherworld surrounded, with yellow eyes full of greed. His most dangerous feature was the long viper's head he had for a tail, which was known for snapping about as it sought new prey to harm. His demon kingdom greatly respected their much larger ruler and tended to the various creatures of the land. The most popular of these creatures were massive, horrific dragons upon which all the demons rode. Other creatures the demons provided for included the giant, black fire scorpions that crawled along the crevices of the volcano, the venom in their tails rivaling the king's own in power. The prey of the dragons and scorpions mostly consisted of the large dark bats that flew through the air of the volcano, which was of an exceedingly high temperature at all times due to its molten core. The demons themselves drank from the lava, drawing immense power from the fiery substance while they used the stone of their very home to create massive weapons such as axes and swords and shields, all black in color. The demons themselves were driven by power and bloodlust, and only sought to conquer and control the world about them, draining it of its life and power and using it to increase their own. It was these creatures that the angels set about to control, to confine their horrific greed to their ashen volcanic home.

The next kingdom to be created was that of Bosnia, nestled deep within the mountains created by the Netherworld's volcanic eruption. Coming out of the caves of Bosnia was a new breed of creature, known as the Fae. These creatures were a mix between elf and mortal, and had immense strength and power. The Fae thrived upon the five energy streams within their bodies. The five streams, which include a DNA-analogous Progenitous stream, a body-regulating Corporis stream, a healing Senatare stream, and two energy-providing Navitus streams which power the other three, enable a Fae to have faster healing abilities than mortals and to also have the ability to use magic, which they may express in various ways. These ways include through weaponry, meditation, or raw magical power. All of these characteristics lead many Fae to live a far longer life than mortals, and they are able to stop the growth of their physical appearance at any time they wish and continue living in that form. The Fae themselves were created to both rule and care for all the animals in the lands they settled within, and that was precisely what the Bosnian Fae planned on doing.

Out of the caves of their mountains came various animals of mixed breeds. The most popular creatures include the Wolbats, the Bolfs, and the Taurvids. The Wolbats were massive creatures that had the bodies of wolves, but the feeding tendencies and wings of bats. These creatures also were known for their excellent hearing and high pitched shrieks used to temporarily destroy the hearing of their foes. Many of them dwelt in caves and fed upon small animals found there, but one could also find them prowling higher up in the mountains, often in packs of ten or more to take down larger prey. The Bolfs consisted of a mix between a wild dog and a boar. These creatures had the body of a stocky dog, the tail of a boar, and the head of a dog with large tusks jutting out on either side of their muzzle. These were known for residing mainly in the valleys of the mountains, although some could be found just a little further up the mountainsides. The final beasts, the Taurvids, were a mix between a massive bull and an eagle, having massive wings akin to that of an eagle and the rugged body of a bull. To this day, the females remain slightly smaller than the males and have smaller horns, but are without a doubt just as deadly. The Taurvids graze and reside solely on the flat valley floors of the mountains. Also scattering the mountainous landscape could be found vultures of varying sizes, some reaching the size of a full mortal man. The land was also scattered with massive rats and wild cats.

It was to these savage animals and the savage terrain of the mountains that the Bosnian Fae adapted. Although many Fae originally were quite beautiful, the Bosnians quickly gave up their exquisite appearances as they fought off various wild creatures. These Fae would move on to either slaughter or tame the animals for everyday use. They built various separated villages throughout the land they had claimed as theirs, all consisting of rugged homes built of stone and decorated with the pelts of the animals each family had taken down in hunts. The creation of villages was certainly a first compared to the angels and demons, who lived in more centralized communities.

The Bosnians greatly celebrated brute force and strength in combat, and it was through this celebration that they selected their leader and king. After a long competition against various others of his Bosnian brethren, the Fae King Favios was selected to rule the land. Each year, he would compete with other males who desired his status, and the winner of each would either remain as king or become king on the spot. In celebration of their King, all villages contributed to building a massive castle of many levels into the mountainside of the largest mountain of the land. This was a castle built out of rugged stone, and the inside was layered in pelts and various pieces of armor that the king had already obtained or had been given as tributes to him. As time passed, the barbaric Fae kingdom closed itself off and paid no attention to the outside kingdoms as it sought successful self-sustenance. The Fae took up farming in terrain that would allow it and began to use the Taurvids as pack animals and the Bolfs as pets. The areas closer to some vents on the side of the Netherworld's volcano were taken advantage of to create extremely intricate and powerful armor to be used by the Bosnian warriors in combat. Over time, villages that specialized in one area of life began to trade with villages that specialized in another area, and the kingdom's economy began to thrive. However, some Fae were still unhappy with the rugged Bosnian lifestyle, which was full of debauchery and violence and adultery as is the barbaric way, and decided to slowly disband from the kingdom. The Bosnian King Favios would have no such thing occur without punishment, and in no time had sent his own personal guard of warriors with their Bolfs and Taurvids after the rebelling Fae, chasing them far away from what he considered was the Bosnian border, over a large mountain range, and into a land even more barren than they'd ever seen.

All seemed lost for the banished Fae. For the first winter in the new barren land, many children died and the food the group of Fae had managed to grab as they fled soon became scarce. Many in the group began to wish to disband further and try to survive on their own. Knowing that this would only cause further death, a middle aged Fae woman by the name of Mirabella invented a solution to their problem. Being of exquisite beauty with her white skin and hair that caused her sapphire blue eyes to shine, the woman gathered all of the Fae together and declared that they need not worry. She declared that if they banded their magic together in a circle of unity, connecting all of their energy streams as one, they could try to call upon the earth itself to provide a life giving spring that would cause the land to flourish and grow. Despite many Fae doubting such an ability, in that in Bosnia magic was greatly discouraged if not for warfare, they all joined hands. As each Fae in the small circle closed their eyes and concentrated all of their spirit on the center of the circle, calling for the life giving water the beautiful Mirabella spoke of, they entered into a two day period of constant concentration, urging their merged energy streams to call forth the power they so desperately needed. Finally, on the second day, their answer came in the form of a tall shoot of crystalline substance. Before their eyes, a spring of water flew up from the cracked earth to shower all of the Fae present with its life giving liquid. All those touched with the water felt instantly rejuvenated, and the spring continued to spread out over the land.

In no time, grass began to grow from the previously barren ground along with various plants providing great amounts of fruit and gorgeous flowers. Water from the stream soon flowed over rolling green hills in the form of a long crystalline river of beauty before separating into separate rivers as it made its way over the land. As the Fae stood silently watching all the transformations take place, massive trees shot up from the earth, immediately taking root and producing fruit and flowers as well. In addition to the food and blossoms, the trees provided animals to roam over the new land. Out of the grains of wood came pure white equine animals with golden horns on their heads. These creatures would later become the unicorns spoken of in many mortal fairy tales. In addition, elven creatures that were one with the tree spirits began to emerge from the woods. With a great burst of falling leaves, great white Pegasi flew from the tree tops to soar through the air. From burrows that formed in the ground came smaller woodland creatures, such as chipmunks, squirrels, and rabbits. From nests that formed in the trees came beautiful birds of every color to fill the air with song. In this manner, the beautiful land of Latvania transformed around the Fae.

Over the years, the Latvanians used their powers to build beautiful towns and cities across their land, with a massive castle with many towers and stained glass windows standing tall above the trees and set farthest away from the Bosnian border in a beautiful clearing. The Gleaming white Castle consisted marble and silver and had a blue hue about it, revealing the intense magic held within the stones. Around the castle was lush forest in the front. Behind it, massive stables for the royal family's tamed Pegasi and Unicorns stood beside massive buildings that made up the castle's servants' quarters. Mirabella was elected to become Queen of the vast land, with a silver crown of blue sapphires that matched her eyes made by elven hands, since the elves and the Fae lived joyously together, with the latter watching over the first. An elegant and magical cave was created to protect the magical stream that began the land of Latvania. It soon became tradition for anyone of the royal line to drink from the stream to promote prosperity in the new generation's reign. Latvania grew into a thriving kingdom with far better resources than that of its Bosnian brother. Agriculture flourished as the Fae used Unicorns and Pegasi in their verdant fields, and the towns were always full of singing and dancing created by the elves and the Fae. Because of the deep love for music shared between the two races, great festivals were frequently held in various Latvanian villages. Throughout such festivities, the Fairies, who appeared later as they were born from beautiful white roses in the Latvanian Castle Gardens, began to become a common occurrence, their great glowing light shining throughout the night. Although the Latvanian forces, armed with elven weaponry and riding Unicorns and Pegasi in elven armor, frequently went to war against their Bosnian counterparts, the great kingdom of Latvania grew into a thriving place where reality was a dream and dreams were made a reality. Further south from the Bosnian and Latvanian kingdoms, with a northwestern border to Bosnia and a northeastern border to Latvania at the tapering end of a mountain range separating the barbaric from the beauty, a new nation was forming. That nation was the Kingdom of the Underground.

The Underground Kingdom began as a simple barren wasteland with a tumultuous sea to its Southern borders, with the Southwestern border having dangerous cliffs upon which the large waves crashed and the Southeastern border consisting of grainy boulder strewn beaches. No vegetation had touched the Underground save for a few scraggly trees. No valleys or mountains marked the wasteland, and no living thing inhabited the land. The Bosnians felt no need to go to such a land, with mountain ranges keeping their land separated from it, and the Latvanians' rolling green hills and forests stopped short of the wasteland on their border, the mystical stream having failed to reach that far. For years as the other two Fae kingdoms slowly rose up as individual lands, the Underground sat dormant. It was as the Latvanians were at a rise in their self-sustaining economy that the first sign of real life occurred in the Underground. One dark night, a massive stone castle with massive wrought iron and wooden doors and windows covered by massive satin curtains sprang up in the center of the land, reaching tall and high to the sky above it from its cloud of dust below. As the structure stood tall above the earth, locked up and unoccupied, the land about it began to transform, as a great stone Labyrinth of many twists and turns began to rise up from the cracked lifeless ground, quickly surrounding the castle.

From their clouds above, the Angels of Arisolt watched on as the Labyrinth seemed to move of its own accord like a great massive snake with its pathways ever changing around the castle. The structure itself even seemed to hum. It was clear to all that the strangest thing had occurred in all of the Kingdoms: a structure was in fact alive. Indeed, the entire Labyrinth and the Castle it guarded was proven to be a living thing and out of its various hideaways came goblins and creatures of varying sizes, shapes, and capabilities. Some, known as the Fieries, caused many of the other beings to marvel at them, as they were able to detach every part of their body in their lively dances. But the greatest and most interesting part of the Labyrinth was the goblins. Of various forms and attitudes, the smaller creatures quickly dispersed throughout their Labyrinth, forming a great city within an open area closest to the great Castle, which was soon known as the Goblin City. Others took it upon themselves to take care of the Labyrinth in order to maintain it. The Labyrinth rewarded the goblins in that it housed them and provided them with nutrition. It did so by providing various fruit bearing plants to the creatures, as well as smaller animals that the goblins could hunt.

Over time, many curious Bosnian warriors decided to inspect this new structure. Using their Taurvids, the barbarians easily arrived at the Underground's castle. Upon inspection, they came to find that it was surrounded by a magical shield of sorts. No Fae could enter the building. The Bosnians were persistent however, and even curious Latvanian warriors wondered about the structure. The two forces inspected every inch of the outside walls of the castle as they tried to find a weakness that they could exploit to enter inside. In response to this, the goblins shrank back, wary of those who had invaded their land, despite the Latvanians' claims that they were only inspecting the castle with no hope to take over the Underground. As time passed, the Labyrinth seemed to grow disturbed itself at such violation, and the shield that had surrounded the castle soon surrounded the air above the Labyrinth and its outermost walls. As the Latvanians and Bosnians alike stood outside of the powerful shield the Labyrinth's message was made clear: the structure was shielding itself from future invasion by shutting the Fae out.

Curious about this strange "creature" which, while maintaining the appearance of a great stone structure seemed to have a mind of its own, the Angels, including Queen Charisse, flew down to the outside of the Labyrinth, as did the Bosnian King Favios and the Latvanian Queen Mirabella. For days the Fae rulers touched the golden shield that had formed a humming barricade around the Labyrinth's stone walls, attempting to penetrate it with their magic, only to be firmly withheld from going further. Their forces surrounded the circular structure, as they sought a way inside. But it wasn't until one day that they finally found out what the Labyrinth wished, as stone words were etched onto two massive stone doors with large chains used to pull them open in the center of a section of wall. Written in ancient Fae writing, the message declared:

_We will only allow you one more chance to enter into our Labyrinth and claim our Castle. _

_A Fae Must Solve our Massive Labyrinth Within Thirteen Hours' Time._

_Only then may they open the Castle Doors and take hold of the Land we reside in as our Ruler._

_There Are But Only Three Rules To Our Challenge: _

_First, each Fae may have only one chance to Complete Our Challenge. If Repeated Chances are Attempted, The Fae will be incinerated upon re-entry to our Paths._

_Second, each Fae must only enter one at a Time. _

_Third, NO Fae is to harm any creature within our walls. _

_If any of these rules are violated, the Fae responsible will be incinerated immediately._

In that instant, the massive stone doors to the Labyrinth swung open, the shield parting ever so slightly for them to do so, and a great misty fog flew out to the Fae standing there. The Angels decided to leave the Fae to the Labyrinth themselves, and exited for their homeland. Mirabella and Favios both had great needs at their homelands and left as well, bidding any Fae who dared accept the thing's challenge good luck. For moments the Fae assembled there gazed at the open doorway. Then, a Bosnian Fae stepped forward and entered the Labyrinth. As soon as he was inside, the doors clanged shut loudly behind him and the male, who was by far the second greatest warrior of all of his land, began to move about the structure. Upon entering, he met the odd creatures that existed within the Labyrinth, including small lichen with moving eyes that watched him as he went, goblins who presented him with various riddles as he tried to find his way, and shafts of gross hands that would claim to help him as they hindered his journey. In Thirteen hours' time, the Fae was pointed the way out of the Labyrinth, and, honoring the rules already put in place by the thing itself, exited and went to his homeland. And so the great challenge that was the Labyrinth began.

For years, Fae from both Latvania and Bosnia attempted to complete the Labyrinth. None succeeded. Some simply gave up and declared that they wished to leave the Labyrinth. The structure then quite calmly showed them a clear way out, honoring their request. Others refused to give up, only to be shown the way out after the thirteen hours were over. Those who tried to stay were incinerated on the spot. Some of those who made it out were perfectly fine and went about their lives, declaring the Labyrinth a sick joke put on by the goblins within its walls and that no one could ever solve such an ever changing maze. Others declared the Labyrinth a great marvel and were in awe of the magnificent creature. They went with their heads held high declaring that they were proud to at least go up against it. Others still weren't so lucky. They were driven mad by the ever changing structure until finally they crawled out, raving of dangerous creatures and bogs that forever stunk. Mostly, their jargon was incoherent. As time passed, fewer and fewer Fae attempted to solve the Labyrinth. The structure went for months at a time without a runner. Many Fae passed it off that no one could ever possibly defeat it. Others simply didn't want to take the time, whether it would provide them with a kingdom of their own or not. Still, others yearned and aspired to solve the great structure. This led a certain Latvanian Fae, Ajavet, to ride his unicorn out to the gates one fateful day.

A Fae peasant who worked on a farm in Latvania that grew beautiful fruit, Ajavet was a lover of games and riddles which the elves and fairies would pose to him in good fun. To him, the Labyrinth was the greatest puzzle of all. He knew not if he could win against the great, proud beast, but he knew that he would certainly love to try his hand at it. The Labyrinth, which enjoyed a good spot of fun and games itself, instantly recognized the kindred spirit within Ajavet as he stood, smiling calmly with his raven hair whipping in the wind and his green eyes alight with an inner fire before the gates. As was expected, the great structure swung open its doors, inviting him into its foggy, hazy inner pathways. Ajavet smiled, but did not enter at that moment. In a loud voice, he introduced himself, "MY NAME IS AJAVET OF LATVANIA, OH GREAT LABYRINTH! Now, let us have fun! Let me try to run your winding, legendary maze! And please! Throw at me everything you've got!" The Labyrinth almost seemed to croon to him in response to his declaration, agreeing to his challenge. This Fae spoke not of victory, but of the wondrous game that the Labyrinth yearned to create. And so, the beast and Fae began their trials.

With a grin on his face and a forehead creased with concentration, Ajavet spent all thirteen hours within the winding maze, laughing at certain parts he found funny, such as the Fieries and their ancient dance, and marveling at walls that seemed to give way to new pathways. All the while, he applauded the great Labyrinth for its magnificence. As the last hour struck, he stood, staring, up at the large castle doors, lined in the gold shield. Turning, he gazed out at the various goblins that had gathered in the city square to look up at him in marveling awe. As a clock deep in the castle struck the thirteenth hour, a sudden flow of energy flew out from the ground beneath him and encased him. Suddenly, he and the Labyrinth were one, as he felt its power tingling through him and he knew everything regarding it. He knew how it swore to protect in any way possible the standing Fae King and Queen that would rule the land. How it and its creatures would obey any order given by said royalty. How he had succeeded in the Labyrinth's challenge. How a simple peasant from Latvania with a love for games had become The Goblin King of the Underground.

Turning to the two doors as the goblins and other creatures cheered him onward, the Fae gripped the wrought iron handles of the castle firmly in his hands, breathing hard in his excitement, and, for the first time, a Fae entered into the Goblin Castle. It was an ornate castle, with beautiful chandeliers and a gorgeous, wide throne room that had an air of playfulness about it. The long, winding halls and chambers of the structure stretched out before Ajavet, who, in the beginning, had in fact had nothing. The king made his way through out his new castle, until finally he came to a room that was without a doubt his private quarters. The two large alabaster doors were inlaid with gold and appeared to look like a Labyrinth's outline themselves. Gripping the golden handles firmly, he opened the doors and entered in, gazing around at the massive bedchamber. On the bed sat a black cape with armor cuffs at the tops of the shoulders with the Fae symbol for Victory set to go over the chest of the wearer.

Over the next few years, groups of Latvanian Fae migrated over to the Underground. While the glamor of their old world was left behind, these Fae instantly fell in love with the land which, since the Labyrinth was coupled with a Fae King itself, was slowly yielding fields upon fields of crops and large forests of its own, though they only came second to Latvania's lush vegetation. Towns began to be set up and some goblins moved from the Labyrinth to inhabit the towns along with their Fae protectors, and the Underground flourished with agriculture and trade with Ajavet at its head. The Latvanians brought with them their own unicorns to aid in various tasks and gave the trade amongst the towns a great jump start with the efficient form of transportation and communication between locations due to the swiftness of such creatures. Ajavet himself brought various fairies that he'd danced with as a child to live along the borders of the Labyrinth, adding to its magnificence and forming gardens around its walls where they would sing their beautiful songs. In no time, the Underground and its inhabitants, which included the occasional crow along with the goblins and other creatures, was thriving alongside all the other Fae Kingdoms. Furthermore, the tradition began that any Fae of the Underground Royal Family would have to run the Labyrinth successfully to become King or Queen of the land, in honor of the Labyrinth's initial challenge to the Fae.

The final Kingdom was that of the Aboveground, or the land of the mortals. In sharp contrast to the Underground, the Aboveground was inhabited by humans and various animals of different kinds long before the Underground had its first Fae king. Set an entire Dimension above the other kingdoms, hence its name, the Aboveground was a brighter form of the Underground. While it had kings and queens and various other governments akin to that of the Fae Kingdoms, it was decidedly more cheery than the Underground, producing far more pleasant looking creatures as far as the mortals were concerned and far better vegetation. In exchange for such blessings, the inhabitants of that world were beneath the Fae in power but above the elves and goblins. They were mortals, with no magical qualities whatsoever. Despite such differences between the two lands, goblins, fairies, unicorns, and Fae alike enjoyed spending time with the mortals, entering through rifts of the dimensional barrier they shared with their counterpart. Soon, mortals became familiar with the goblin and fairy beings of the Fae world, existing happily along with the mystical beings.

The Fae, seeing great possibility in the draft horses of the Aboveground in their own fields, soon began to form trades including the exchanging of various Fae cloths and items for the creatures which they then brought to the Underground and bred with their own unicorns. Furthermore, the Underground also offered a service to the mortals. If a mortal child should be a hindrance in the Aboveground, a mortal that had authority over the child could wish for the goblins to come and take the child away at that instant using the phrase "I wish the goblins would come and take you away right now" and the Goblin King would have no choice but to send his goblin guard to fetch the child and take it to the Underground to be raised by the goblins and Fae. Unfortunately, it soon became apparent that many mortals may not mean to send their young wards away and only would say the mystical words in spite and anger. Because of this, the Faes offered a challenge to each sender. If they could defeat the Labyrinth in thirteen hours' time, as Ajavet originally did, they could have the child returned to them, safe and sound. Through the close relationship formed between the Underground and Aboveground, over time the unicorns, fairies, goblins, and Fae alike became favorites of legends told by mortals, and, named in honor of the fairies that crossed over through the rifts, "fairy tales" were begun to portray the adventures of Aboveground humans with the creatures of the Underground.

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A/N: So how was it? I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. The Second Half of the Prologue, which focuses primarily on the History of the Six Kingdoms from the Underground's creation onward and is a general outline of events leading up to the movie (which, remember, my story is a "what if" follow up to).

As is assumed always, I seek no profit from making this. This is solely for the entertainment of others and a way for my ideas to be written down on paper. I do hope you enjoyed it, and please, please review!

Also, I do plan on working on my _Phantom Stallion_ story more as well. It's just taken me a little while to work on the next chapter of it.


	2. The History of the Six Kingdoms

Disclaimer: I do not own the movie "Labyrinth". It belongs to its respective owners, along with all creatures inside of it. I do however claim ownership to all new creatures and characters I introduce in this story (outside of the _terms _Fae and Underground and the concepts of unicorns, elves, Pegasi, fairies, and of course, mortals. Yes, those all belong to their respective owners), and the idea behind this story.I do not wish to profit from this story. It is SOLELY for entertainment purposes. :) I also do not own the story "Three Billy Goats Gruff". That belongs to its respective owners.

A/N: So, here is the second and final installment to the Prologue of my story. I apologize for the wait. I really thought it wouldn't take this long, but I wanted this chapter to be perfect so the wait was necessary in order for me to tweak it. I've worked long and hard on it, and I hope that you enjoy it because of that. I should be posting the first chapter of the actual story later. ;)

Pleaes note, there may be some graphic (though not sexual) parts of this chapter. Okay?

Enjoy!

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**New Beginnings**

**Prologue Part 2:**

"**The History of the Six Kingdoms"**

It was through the relationships between Arisolt and the Netherworld, Bosnia and Latvania, and the Underground and the Aboveground that the two dimensions remained in balance for a good many generations of Fae. Fae Kings and Queens passed on their thrones to their heirs as their princes or princesses grew to an appropriate age of maturity.

Such a perfect balance could not last forever however, and the first imbalance would appear between the Underground and the Aboveground. While King Jiront, the descendent of King Ajavet, was King of the Underground and 300 years old, a disruption occurred between the mortals of the Aboveground and the goblins of the Underground. The mortals, or humans, as they had come to be called, grew to fear the goblins as the mortals perceived the creatures to be far uglier than any other creature. As a result of such fear, the mortals began to reject the goblins. Larger female goblins began to be called "hags" while they were in the Aboveground, and as they continued to visit young children to play with them, they were captured and tortured by the humans they'd trusted. These female goblins would then be hanged at the gallows or burned at the stake. Other much smaller female and male goblins encountered violence such as this from the humans as well, while larger male goblins were taken advantage of.

As the larger male goblins had become fascinated with certain animals of the Aboveground world, such as chickens, pigs, and cats, they had begun to trade with the humans for these creatures. For the animals they wanted, the goblins would trade goblin armor and Underground medicinal herbs with the humans. For a long time, the trades were sound. Then one day some humans declared that a group of goblins had stolen a pig without a fair trade. Since they had in fact traded a good deal of weaponry with said humans for the animal, the goblins retaliated when a demand was made by the mortals for the pig to be returned to the humans, and a fight began between the two groups. The fight ended with the death of the goblins by the same weapons they'd traded for the animal. Such shady deals continued between the two races, with some ending in the deaths of goblins and some in the deaths of the offending humans.

Soon, the Underground Fae protectors of the goblins began to cross over to the other side of the dimensional barrier between the two kingdoms and unleash their own magic in defense of their fellow Underground citizens. Some merely sought to cause boils to explode in horrible bunches on the humans' skins. Others sought far nastier means of retribution. One Fae woman in particular, Cressinda, began to turn the offending humans into whatever animals they claimed the goblins had "stolen". Still others began to murder the goblin-harming humans on sight. Over time, the Fae began to be called "warlocks" and "witches" by the mortals. Such Fae upon capture were sentenced to immediate death. Since they were unable to die at the stakes or gallows due to their powerful life sustaining energy streams, fear of the Fae spread further, and the conflict between them and the mortals was only heightened as the mystical beings retaliated with their own magical powers and energies against the mortal attacks.

In their own form of retaliation to the ill treatment of their fellow Underground creatures, the fairies and goblins began to unleash their own wrath upon the humans who they felt had betrayed them. The fairies took up a nasty habit of biting various human young ones and injecting them with venom that would leave the child severely ill for days. The superficial humans blamed the "ugly goblin monsters" instead of the "beautiful innocent fairies" for these attacks, and continued to persecute the goblins. As the persecution of their brethren reached new heights, the goblins began to fight back harder against the humans. Many goblins began to scare humans in woods and beat them with clubs. Other goblins began to hide under human made bridges to ambush unwary travelers.

Due to the intensity of the fighting occurring between the creatures of the Underground and the mortals of the Aboveground, it didn't take long before the Underground Fae council, which consisted of the King and various governors of his towns and cities, felt the need to intervene. The goblins' numbers had begun to drop considerably, and after a clear murder upon a goblin by a very imposing "Billy Goat Gruff" the Labyrinth itself demanded that the Fae council do something about the situation. If the council refused to act, the Labyrinth declared that it would turn on its Fae citizens and inevitably destroy them with its power. Due to their own heightened anger about the Aboveground fighting and this final demand by their beloved Labyrinth, the Fae council decided upon a unanimous decision: they would use their magic to strengthen the barrier between the Underground and the Aboveground, to the point where only elected officials of each town and the King and Queen themselves could move between the two kingdoms. And, naturally, that would also be the only way for any other creature to go to the Aboveground. Once this decision was finalized, the Goblin King called back all Fae and goblins and fairies from the Aboveground in a hasty retreat.

That night, once every creature that wasn't already dead had been accounted for, the council set about the five day task of strengthening the barrier between the two dimensions, severing their ties with the Aboveground. While stories of the Underground would still circulate in the Aboveground, such as the rules regarding how human children could be wished away to the dimension below, all further communication was halted in order for the Fae to properly protect their creatures and subjects.

The second disturbance was caused by the Angels of Arisolt and the Demons of the Netherworld, and would cause far greater damage to the Fae than the previous conflict had. As time passed, the Angels of Arisolt began to stop looking over the Fae Kingdoms beneath them, and instead looked down upon the Kingdoms. They began to scoff at the barbaric ways of Bosnia and frowned upon the beauty of Latvania, declaring that both attributes led to unnecessary violence and vanity, respectively. The Angels also looked with disdain upon the excessive battles between the brother and sister countries themselves. As for the Underground, they abhorred the idea that such a kingdom should have so much decided upon by a simple game and they often wrinkled their noses at the debauchery that some of the goblins engaged in. They viewed the Fae of the Underground in a negative light, as well. This was due to the way the Fae had handled things with the Aboveground and the fact that the Fae allowed such debauchery in their goblins. In this way, the Angels found something wrong with each and every Fae country. Along with critiquing the Fae, the Angels also built themselves up as mightier, higher creatures that should be respected by all others. The Angels did this while ignoring their own vices, in that they were certainly not strangers to excessive parties or adultery, and often spent hours preening themselves before vanity mirrors.

In a meeting in the company of the Bosnian King Tauros, the Latvanian Queen Geneva, and the Underground King Maltor (son of Jiront), the Angel Queen Cashlinda required all of the Fae kingdoms to recognize the Angels of Arisolt as superior beings and to offer up tributes of each Fae kingdom's own resources each month for the Angels to use. Geneva, the eldest of the group of Fae, was first to contradict the Angel Queen's request. The white haired queen declared that for many years, the Fae rulers had only ever interacted truly with the other members of their "pairs" among the six kingdoms, while recognizing the kingdoms outside of their pairs only when it was necessary. During that time, each land had set out to merely sustain itself, without encroaching upon the land or resources owned by the others. Meanwhile, the Angels had held true to what they were to do, which was to guard the Fae and the mortals against the Demons' lust for blood and power. During that time, all kingdoms had viewed each other as being on a level playing field. The Latvanian Queen went on to declare that that was how it should remain, and the agreement between the Fae rulers was unanimous. The Angel Queen accepted the Latvanian Queen's refusal and left the meeting, as did the other Fae rulers.

Upon returning to Arisolt, the angered Queen declared that no one was to offer aid to the Fae kingdoms any longer until they recognized the Angels as being of a higher authority. For a month, this order was recognized by all Angels with no Fae complaints. But just as the Fae were laying down to sleep one night, the Demons, who had up until that point kept to themselves in their volcanic kingdom, attacked with a land slide of forces, fire, and ash upon the Fae kingdoms of Latvania and Bosnia. Grabbing various Fae and wrenching them from their homes as the kingdoms' villages and towns burned to the ground, the Demons put them in weighted chains that prevented them from moving very much and then stuffed them into cages as the fiery monsters raided the lands. Once most of the lands were filled with flames, the demon forces moved on to quickly overtake the castles of the two kingdoms under the command of the Demon Lord that had remained in power over all the years: Demon Lord Adish. With his forces Adish ruthlessly burned and demolished the castles and the kingdoms for which the structures stood, sending the creatures that the Fae had once protected into hiding. As Latvania and Bosnia burned to the ground, the Demonic forces moved on to the last of the Fae kingdoms: the Underground. As they had done with the previous two Fae kingdoms, they raided the kingdom, cackling as they ripped women from their children and husbands from their wives and destroyed crops and farmland and mills and towns, sending the other creatures there to their deaths or into hiding. Then, with the force of the entire Demon army, Adish slammed hard against the tall castle of the Underground. A loud shriek was sent up from the Labyrinth as the top half of its castle was turned to rubble before the building began to crumble to the ground.

Cackling and roaring with pride, his yellow eyes gleaming in the light of the fire that reached up for the dark night sky with its flaming fingers as the castle burned, Adish ordered over the shrieks of the trapped Fae inside the burning structure that the entire Labyrinth was to be thoroughly demolished, so that no stone was left on top of another. As his army set about fulfilling that order, sending the goblins underground and into hiding and consuming every human they could find by pushing the shrieking mortals through their bloody fangs, Adish and those in his direct company raided the rubble of the castle, pulling the greatly injured King and Queen from the remains of their beloved home, along with the rest of the entire royal family. Once all Fae were locked in cages, the Demon Lord stood and drank in the sight of the lands of Underground, Latvania, and Bosnia blazing before him. With a triumphant smile Adish then turned his back to the lands, and with the dragons of his land carrying the massive cages full of the frightened Fae captives, the Demon Lord headed back to his volcano.

The next morning, all of the surviving Fae were forced to stand upon a great stone platform within the Netherworld that was suspended miles above the lava base of the volcano. The platform was held in place by long stone pathways that stretched out from it to grasp onto the inner walls of the volcano, keeping the structure and those on it away from the fiery lake below. Before them was the great Adish on his massive throne which was carved in such a way that it appeared to be made of Fae faces shrieking in mindless agony. As the Fae nervously turned their heads, gazing around at the awful place in which they now found themselves, Demon guards and Fire Scorpions stood on guard. Firm black manacles and shackles were upon each Fae's wrists and ankles, made of the same chains that had bound them before as they'd watched their lands burn. With a wave of Adish's massive clawed right hand, the three major Fae rulers of the conquered lands were grabbed by some of the Demons and forced to stand before him at the front of the crowd of Fae, representing the Fae of their own respective countries which stood cowering behind their Kings and Queen. The rulers themselves trembled and shook, having been greatly beaten upon by the Demon guards upon arrival to the Netherworld. Every Fae was silent as they waited for the Demon Lord to speak. When he did, it rumbled throughout the volcano, hurting every Fae ear.

After declaring victory over the Fae and informing them that they were now his prisoners, he declared that the children would be separated from their parents and sent deep into the volcano to mine for molten rock. Once the wails of the mothers and fathers had died down, he continued to declare that all of the adult Fae would remain on the top rims of the volcanic kingdom, constantly in chains or in cells, and would spend the rest of their days using the rock their children would find to make armor for the Demons, in that he planned to attack Arisolt next. Then, he ordered each ruler to be moved closer to the throne. Turning each around to face the frightened eyes of their subjects, he declared to all present that their beloved rulers had failed to protect the Fae they had charged themselves with. As the rulers hung their heads in shame, the Demon lord attacked with his viper tail, latching hard onto each Fae ruler's back one at a time, forcing the ruler to cry out as his or her power was greatly drained by the Demon. Once he was finished with each one, Adish would release the ruler, removing their manacles, and the weakened Fae would collapse onto the ground, only to be dragged away by Demon guards. Once the three Fae rulers had been dragged away, the Demon Lord proceeded to drain the power of every other Fae present.

From that point on, 400 years of darkness fell over the Fae race. On the top four rims of the Volcano were tiny cells that were only long enough for five Fae to stand in from front to back and only wide enough for three Fae to stand in from side to side. The ceilings were only tall enough to allow the Fae to stand. It was within these cells that the Fae were kept behind iron bars each night before waiting to go out and be chained together to work on the black armor the next day on the stone ledge just outside their cell. The Fae were housed in such a way that no Bosnian was kept beside another Bosnian, no Latvanian beside another Latvanian, and no Underground Fae beside other Underground Fae. Furthermore, no Fae was allowed to speak out of turn, much less to one another. Each Fae was given a brown shirt and pair of pants to wear. None were given shoes. And so, each day the Fae would walk emptily from their cells to the guards outside, sit down, and work tiredly on the piece of stone or metal set before them, asking no questions, feeling the super-hot stone beneath their feet. Sweat would pour down their backs and their bodies would beg for rest or just a drop of precious water to cool their dry, swollen tongues, but they were forbidden from asking for anything and so they pressed on, their bodies sustaining them day by day in the hell that became their life. Any time a Fae rebelled, a fire scorpion was nearby, and it would pierce the Fae repeatedly with its tail. Then, as the Fae prisoner writhed and whimpered on the hot stone ground, the guard near the rebellious being would declare that the quota for what the Fae prisoners as a whole were required to create was to be doubled. If the Fae prisoners ever failed to meet any quotas set by the guards, even if they worked through the night, each Fae was struck hard by the scorpions three times in the back, leaving them curled up and whimpering as the venom pierced through their body before they were dragged back to the armor to continue their work.

The children had it no better, if not worse. Deeper down in the volcano, the weaker Fae often suffocated on the ash and heat. Because of this, the poor creatures dropped like flies every day to the horror of their mothers. Over time, there were in fact no more children to work below, and younger adult Fae were dragged down from the four upper levels to continue the work the youngest Fae had left unfinished. For sustenance, the Fae were allowed enough water to keep them alive, but had to depend on scraps from their Demon guards for anything else. To only add to their already drained state, with each piece of armor they made it became clearer and clearer to the Fae that the Demon Lord hadn't just wanted to conquer the Fae in order to declare dominance or have a constant labor force because of their virtually immortal bodies. With each piece of armor they made, they felt their magic draining from them and going into the metal and stone to power the piece they were working on. Due to the severity of the situation, the Fae ironically forged a new bond, because as their pain continued all ideas of being of Bosnian, Latvanian, and Underground descent were cast aside. They were all equals. All of the Fae were prisoners in the Demon world.

It was during an afternoon of the draining work that the former Underground King Maltor's hand slipped as he was hammering out a sword. As the Fae male stared in disbelief, the tip of the sword broke off. As it clattered to the ground, he had an idea. After his guards had had a scorpion lash at his back five times, he was led to a platform similar to the one the Fae had stood on upon arrival to the Netherworld that was held up by pathways jutting out from the inner sides of the volcano just as the one before had been. This platform had a giant hole in the center of it, and Maltor was to drop the broken pieces of the weapon down into the lake of lava below. As he gazed at the pit beneath him, he caused himself to trip on the chain of his shackles, tossing the tip of the sword and a massive black rock he quickly found on the platform down to the lava. Then the former King hoped against all hope that the guards would buy it as him dropping the handle as well, and tucked the metal handle beneath his shirt, shielding his actions by having his back turned to the Demons. To his relief, the guards did fall for it, and led him back to his cell, it being time to quit for the day. While there, Maltor set to work with his plan. Taking the sword handle and beginning to use it as a shovel to dig into the rock of his cell wall, the former Fae King began to try desperately to form a hole between his cell and the cell to his left. Once morning came, he hid the handle within the small dent he'd made, covering it with chunks of rock that had come out as a result of his digging.

Night after night, he continued to chisel away at his forming hole. Finally, he broke through to the Bosnian woman on the other side of his cell wall. He asked her to break the shield he knew she would be working on the next day and explained the way to hide the metal from the guards as he had done when he'd been ordered to drop his own through the opening on the platform. He then asked for her to use that metal at night to dig through to the cell on her left, describing how he was able to hide what he was doing from his own guards in the hopes that she would do the same. When the Bosnian woman had whispered worries about getting punished for breaking the metal and then punished more if she was caught digging through the wall, Maltor pleaded with her to do as he asked, declaring that he was in fact forming a plan. He declared that if the plan worked, then the Fae would be able to communicate with one another. Once they were able to do that, he said, all of the Fae prisoners could revolt and break free from their Demon captors.

In the hopes that his plan would work, the Bosnian woman agreed to do as he asked, and on the next day broke her shield to begin digging through to the next cell. Overjoyed, Maltor turned his attention to the cell on his right, and after the Latvanian male on that side of him agreed to do as he asked, the prisoners on the other sides of the Bosnian woman and Latvanian male continued the creation of communication holes. When he thought that everyone on that level of the volcano, which was the upper most level, had holes of communication between one another, Maltor put the system they'd created to the test. He uttered a simple word that all of the Fae would understand through his right hole: "Freedom". The word floated along the long line of prison cells, until finally the Bosnian woman to his left murmured the word to him. Although all of the Fae on that level were in silent celebration of the fact that they now could communicate with one another, they knew that there was still plenty of work that had to still be done. Without delay each began to dig down through their cell floors into the ceilings of the Fae cells below, using their metal "shovels" as rafters between their cells and those beneath them to hold rocks in place during the day in order hide what they were doing from the Demon guards. Once Maltor and the other Fae prisoners on the upper level had broken through to the level beneath them, the Fae below them then went through the same process of forming communication holes as their brethren had above. As the communication networks were formed in the level beneath them, the Fae on the upper level set about continuing to periodically break the metal pieces they worked on and hid the pieces of the metal under their clothes. Once back in their cells, they would dig more holes in the walls and floor to hide the precious pieces of armor and weaponry, building up the resources that the Fae prisoners had for the upcoming revolt, while keeping enough stone in the walls and floors to prevent the stone from collapsing. As each level finished with the part of the communication system that they were responsible for, they likewise began to stow away pieces of metal.

Such work continued for five years until finally all Fae had a way of secretly communicating and also had a good amount of armor and weaponry for their use, with the lower levels receiving armor and weaponry from the Fae above. For the next year, they all continued to break more and more objects and hide them under their clothes, until each Fae had a sufficient amount of pieces of armor to protect themselves with and weapons to attack their captors with. The Fae accomplished this through the prisoners trading between their cells to provide for each member. Once each Fae had communicated that they were ready for combat, Maltor requested that they all take the night off from their efforts as a time for rest before the battle that would occur the morning after the next night. Each Fae honored his request.

During the 406th year of their enslavement, when the Demons opened their cell doors, the Fae prisoners were ready. Turning to their captors and mustering up all of their remaining strength, the Fae attacked head on, driving back their Demon oppressors, slashing off heads and spearing through cold hearts, effectively killing their guards. With that having been done, they continued to battle the scorpions and dragons. Despite losing many Fae in the process, Maltor and his fellow rebels fought long and hard against reinforcements as they were brought in, working their way down to Adish's castle. Upon reaching the bottom level, a section of the Fae force set out from the main group of rebels and freed the younger Fae that were held prisoner on that level as Maltor, Geneva, and Tauros all led a large wave of Fae fighters into the Demon Lord's palace, taking out Demon after Demon that got in their way, until they reached Adish's throne room, where they instantly cornered him.

The Demon Lord tried to swipe out with his tail and attack, but he only latched onto the metal on Tauros's front. The fangs sank deep into the metal and were instantly stuck there, and the Demon grunted, his tail trying hard to recoil from the Fae, jerking on the armor in vain. Seeing this as an opportunity for them to attack him, Adish took up his massive Axe and began to swing it about, trying to take out the three rebel leaders. Geneva immediately attacked the Demon's axe and held it off from the other two, as Maltor easily sliced off the tail's head. With that threat to the Fae gone, the three continued to attack the Demon Lord, letting all of the anger they felt towards their captor fuel their strokes until finally, they were able to slash off Adish's head with his own axe, watching as the dead Demon Lord fell to the ground. At that moment, the battle was won, and their freedom was returned to them.

Rather than rule over the Netherworld, the Fae leaders appointed a new Demon ruler, Adish's smallest son Kane, to the Netherworld throne, and demanded that he agree with their terms. For 50 days, the four leaders set about drawing up laws to govern the Netherworld and the Fae Kingdoms. It was declared that Geneva's female descendants would mark the royal line of Latvania, each preferably with a King. It was decided that in contrast with that and keeping to the idea of balancing Latvania out, all of Tauros's male descendants would battle it out for the Bosnian throne. Finally, all of Maltor's first born male descendants would be required to become King of his own land, the Underground. Rules and regulations regarding the conquering of land and subjects from other Kingdoms were also agreed upon. It was agreed that the only way for any Kingdom to gain another's land ever again would be through a "claiming battle" and the challenge for such a battle would have to be declared a day in advance to give the threatened land time to prepare to fight with honor. All other unannounced battles would not be potential instances for land grabbing or subject enslavement, and if they were to ensue at proportions akin to that of war, the other Kingdoms were required to send to the victimized Kingdom a minimum of three legions of each Kingdom's soldiers to aid in combat. Once the final plans were drawn up for such things, the three Fae rulers sat on the edge off the rim of the Volcano with Kane, who was much like Adish in form besides the fact that his tail had been docked off by the Fae rulers for compensation for their hardships. Such a docking of the tails of the Demon Lord's line of descendants also became a guideline for the Netherworld to follow. Once that was decided, the four rulers demanded an immediate meeting with the current Queen of the Angels, Valadanna.

Upon the Angel Queen's arrival, the three Fae rulers expressed anger at the lack of Angel adherence to their vowed mission to protect the Fae from the Demons. Valadanna declared that she understood the Fae's resentment to the Angel race and revealed to all present the reason that the Angels had revoked such protection so long ago. She further declared that any part that the Angels had had in causing the enslavement of the Fae kingdoms was brought about by the Fae race's own stubbornness and ignorance against Angel supremacy. The Fae leaders rebuked the Angel immediately, declaring that whether they were "stubborn" or not, that was no reason for the Angels to allow the Demons to get out of hand. They declared that for compensation of the damage it had caused to both the Fae and the Demons alike, the Angels must sign along with the four other rulers the document they'd created to dictate the rules that the Kingdoms were to follow henceforth. The Angels consented, and a new guideline was created.

This guideline stated that once every 100 years, the standing rulers of each Kingdom would meet without violence at the Goblin Castle of the Underground for a week long series of meetings during which time any old business would be settled and any new business could be brought up by any of the rulers to be decided upon. The Goblin Castle was chosen for two reasons. The first was that Maltor himself, the Underground Fae King, had in fact led the rebellion against the Demons. The second was that since the Goblin Castle was in fact a part of the living Labyrinth, if any plans for conspiracy against any other Kingdom were talked about within its walls, it could alert the royals as a whole immediately. The Angels and Demons at first abhorred this fact, in that since the Labyrinth was to serve the standing Underground King, it would only announce conspiracies whose revelation would benefit the Underground King himself. So another part of the document was added. This part stated that for the weeks during which the meetings would take place, the Labyrinth would remain unbiased in terms of which Royal it preferred concerning this task. It was further inscribed upon the parchment of the contract that any other meetings held between rulers during the 100 year wait between the weeklong meetings in the Underground would be considered unimportant in comparison, and any promises or statements made in such meetings could be overruled by anything stated or decided upon in the 100 year meetings. While the requirement that the Angels were to protect the Fae Kingdoms from the Demons was terminated, it was also inscribed that the Angels were to not intentionally cause harm to befall the Fae races. With that part of the contract written, each ruler signed the parchment, and it was magically multiplied four times by Maltor so that each ruler could have a copy to remind themselves of their responsibilities. With that, the Fae took each of their respective remaining populace and left the volcano behind them to return to their homes of ruin.

The vegetation and landscapes of the kingdoms were still as black and charred as the Demons had left them, and the bodies of the creatures who had not survived the attack by the Demons lay as bleached skeletons on the ground, twisted as their hosts had been in their final moments of agony. The castles and villages lay in ruin, and each Kingdom emitted an air of loneliness and despair. Upon walking to where the entrance to the Labyrinth had once been, Maltor himself heard the once great structure whining sadly upon his return, its stones displaced and littered in at least a one hundred mile radius all around the structure. Such things made the victory the Fae had gained seem hollow upon impact. But still, it was a victory, and the Fae made a vow to their people and the land they'd been forced from that they would rebuild their beloved kingdoms until they not only stood with the same glory of which they once had boasted, but that they would stand with an even greater glory. And so, the Fae began to rebuild their kingdoms, with the Latvanian and Bosnian rulers leading the rebuilding themselves of their torn apart castles and Maltor working with the Labyrinth to rebuild its many walls and the Goblin Castle it surrounded.

As the Fae rebuilt their villages and buildings and castles, the land itself began to thrive once more on their energy, and trees began to grow up from the ground with their shining green leaves and fruit. As their homes and food sources were restored, the creatures of the lands began to come out of hiding to aid the Fae in the rebuilding of their homes. Finally, after 200 years of rebuilding, the buildings once again stood tall, villages once more were thriving, and goblins and other creatures alike were running wildly and happily around the Labyrinth they loved, as the structure itself once again happily wove its pathways about in a frivolous manner. The Underground was not alone in such enjoyment, in that the creatures of Latvania and even Bosnia also erupted in joy and festivities. Meetings amongst the other royals came and went with no changes made to the original guidelines set up by the Fae.

Physical changes to the landscape were not all that time brought to the Kingdoms. As time passed on, new Fae were born into the royal lines, and as the standing rulers would see fit, new rulers were inducted to lead their kingdoms and uphold their bylaws. The royal lines went on as follows for 3,000 years following the end of the Demon enslavement:

In the Netherworld, Demon Lord Kane reigned for 900 additional years before passing on the throne to his son Jiros. Demon Lord Jiros then reigned for 1,000 years before passing the throne over to his own son, Trojant. Demon Lord Trojant has reigned over the Netherworld for 1,100 years up to the beginning of our tale. All of the Demon Lords and their populace remained in their volcano in an effort to build up their own honor between themselves and the Fae once more, with the rulers only leaving for hte100 year meetings.

In Arisolt, Queen Valadanna reigned until her death for 1,300 years, unwilling to pass on the throne to a successor before she died. Upon her death, her first born daughter, Queen Lotta gained the throne. Queen Lotta ruled for 800 years and then chose out of her children Queen Vatania to pass the throne to. Queen Vatania ruled the Kingdom of Arisolt for 900 years up until our story's beginning. During that time, the Angels, like the Demons, kept to themselves, neither helping nor hindering the Fae races.

In Bosnia, the great king Tauros reigned for 200 additional years after the Demon enslavement, giving his throne to his son, King Thor. After reigning for 600 years, Thor then gave his throne to his son, King Fearghus. After reigning for 500 years, King Fearghus gave the throne to his son, King Farrell. King Farrell would then reign for 700 years before giving the throne to his son, King Liam. After reigning for 300 years until his death in a small squabble with Underground Fae, King Liam's throne was passed on to his son King Leon, who reigned until the beginning of our story. All of the Bosnian Kings were known not only for their barbaric nature, but also for their unquestionable strength in battle.

In Latvania, the majestic Queen Geneva reigned for an additional 300 years before passing on the throne to her daughter, Queen Adora. Queen Adora then ruled Latvania for 700 years, before passing on the throne to her daughter, Queen Avania. Queen Avania reigned for 600 years before passing on the throne to her daughter, Queen Armina. Queen Armina then reigned for 500 years before passing on the throne to her daughter, Queen Aryanna. Queen Aryanna ruled over Latvania for 895 years until her death. Since her daughter Princess Arissa was deemed unfit at the time to acquire the throne, the royals of each Fae land met immediately after the Queen's funeral and agreed that it would be in everyone's best interest if Aryanna's husband, King Azul, ruled Latvania until Arissa was deemed ready by the Latvanian council of Fae representatives to become Queen. King Azul ruled over Latvania for 5 years up until the beginning of our story. All of the Fae Queens of the Latvanian line were known for their beauty, exhibiting the white skin, white hair, and deep blue eyes of their ancestor, Queen Mirabella.

In the Underground, King Maltor reigned for 400 additional years before passing on the throne to his son, King Vitar. King Vitar reigned for 500 years before passing on the throne to his son, King Jude. King Jude reigned for 600 years before passing the throne down to his son, King Malfor. King Malfor reigned for a total of 1,190 years over the Underground. During that time, he had a son, named Prince Malfior in honor of his father. Prince Malfior later had a son named Prince Jareth while Malfor still sat on the throne. Malfior, although being wise and ready to become king, was unfortunately murdered by a Bosnian warrior in a skirmish between the two kingdoms. Since Prince Jareth, who was 16 at the time, was not ready to become King, King Malfor continued to reign until he gave Jareth the throne. King Jareth reigned over the Underground for 310 years up until the beginning of our story. During that time, the Underground flourished, and Jareth, in sharp contrast to all Underground Kings before him, became the first King to venture to the Aboveground world after the dimensional barrier was strengthened due to the previous conflict with the mortals. There, he was captivated by a young mortal woman, Sarah Williams, who he would later challenge to run the Labyrinth to save her baby brother who she had wished away to him. After winning the challenge, Sarah returned to the Aboveground, and the King vowed to never return to the land of the mortals again.

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A/N: Okay, so how was that? I hope you liked it! ;)

Now, as I said before and mentioned at the end of the chapter, the actual story following this prologue is to take place AFTER the events of the movie. Basically, this is what happens after Sarah defeats the Labyrinth in the movie that goes by the title "Labyrinth". So, if you don't remember the events of the movie, I highly suggest that you watch it before reading the next chapter of the story. (I in fact watched it five times as I prepared to write this story down and again just before I posted this chapter). It's not that every detail of hte movie is needed to understand this story. I just recommend doing this in order to get the best enjoyment one can from reading this fanfiction. After all, this is fanfiction that is related to the Labyrinth fan-base, is it not? :)

So, anyway, please REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! I love it when people review my work. It not only encourages me, but it also provides me with some critique that will aid me as a writer! ;)


	3. As Her World Falls Down

Disclaimer: I do not own the movie "Labyrinth". It belongs to its respective owners, along with all creatures inside of it. I do however claim ownership to all creatures and characters in this story (outside of the _term _Fae and Underground (what lies behind that term I do claim, since I did come up with my own definition in this story) and the concepts of unicorns, elves, pegasi, fairies, and of course, mortals), and the idea behind this story. I also do not own any songs by David Bowie. I only love to listen to them.  
Rating: M for graphic scenes in the story.  
Warning: This does have a few battle scenes and can get pretty gruesome. Also, there is one short "almost rape" part of this chapter. If you don't want to, you don't have to read it. Just let me assure you, it remains strictly an "almost rape" scene, not a "rape scene". I also promise that there will be no other rape or "almost rape" scenes at all throughout this story past the first chapter. Alright? There may be mentions of the events in this chapter, but I assure you, that's it.  
A/N: So wooh! Long chapter! On my laptop, it actually filled up 20 pages, 12 pt. font Times New Roman. I tried to proofread it as best as I could. I hope it's alright. 0_o Trust me, we get some Jareth kicking butt in this chapter for sure. I'm actually quite happy with it. We're also introduced to other new characters in this story, so get ready, get a good drink of something (soda or water or juice, I mean), something to eat, and enjoy! This is the first actual Chapter of New Beginnings everyone! And the beginning of a (in my mind at least) beautiful tale that takes another look at the Underground, the Labyrinth, the Goblins, and our own very hot Goblin King. ;)

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As Her World Falls Down

Many a Fae had spoken of the magnificent castle of Latvania, with its gorgeous towers and gleaming white walls. Jareth himself had even visited the beautiful structure from time to time while conducting royal business. He'd commented to Queen Aryanna and King Azul that the structure stood out from the other castles of all the other kingdoms as one of great beauty and elegance. But now, Jareth felt that the structure before him could never be restored to that former glory. The once glistening white structure was smudged with soot. Its once gorgeous stained glass windows now dotted the ground in multi-colored shards. Fire could be seen emitting from various towers and roofs. And from inside of it, Jareth could hear the screams and yells as the battle between the Latvanians and Bosnians raged on inside the castle's walls. As neighs and shrieks sounded to the right of him, he turned his head and watched with saddened eyes as various Pegasi and Unicorns rushed out of their collapsing stables. The creatures headed blindly in their panic for the safety of the woods, only to be chased down and ripped to shreds by the Bosnian Bolfs. The smells of death and blood in the air had replaced the fragrances that had once been produced by the castle's massive gardens. And the Goblin King stood, in full armor, in front of eight legions of his goblin army that had all come straight out of the Goblin City of the Underground, ready to help the Latvanians fight the Bosnian invaders.

As Jareth looked out over the massive battle that was being fought in the clearing leading up to the castle, his lips curled back in disgust. Anger filled his multi-colored eyes as his fists clenched and unclenched in irritation. Latvanians, Demons, and Angels all fought against the Bosnian invaders, but it was clear to him that the Demons and Angels had held back on helping the victimized Fae Kingdom. Sure, they had followed the requirements set up by his great-great-great grandfather Maltor and the other Fae rulers of Maltor's time by sending three legions of their soldiers to help the Latvanians against the surprise attack, but only just barely. And quite frankly, if these were what three legions really were in the two kingdoms, it made Jareth worry that the Angels and Demons, though powerful, were losing numbers drastically. From what he could tell, one legion had to be only 8 beings. And that number was only possible if there were any creatures from the two kingdoms fighting inside the castle itself. Furthermore, those that he could see fighting had to be the weakest members of the two races, because they were decidedly _not_ holding their own against the Bosnian Warriors. But what really made him angry was the fact that he didn't see the Angel Queen Vatania, or the Demon Lord Trojant, fighting in the vicinity. From what he knew about the two, the two rulers wouldn't be found inside the castle at all either. He wouldn't be surprised if they weren't even supervising the battle.

In light of the actions taken or not taken by the two leaders, the Goblin King sighed, closing his green and brown eyes as he tilted his head down, a gloved hand coming up to rest on the hilt of his sword and grasp it tightly in his silent frustration. It was as if they were spitting in the faces of the Fae ancestors who had set up the law requiring the legions to be offered in assistance to victimized kingdoms way back when the regulations were written down, and it made the Fae blood within him boil with hatred and anger. Gritting his teeth, he opened his eyes, glaring at the battle. Well, _he_ was going to honor his great-great-great grandfather, whether he truly felt like fighting or not. To do that, he had brought all of the goblin soldiers who resided in the Goblin City around his castle to fight, and was going to head the attack himself in the best goblin-made armor he could find.

The Fae King wore black tights, a black long sleeve shirt, and black boots. Over that, he wore black armor that covered as much of him as possible. He wore metal boots over his black ones. He wore metal coverings over his lower legs, his knees, and his thighs, the coverings for such things split into three parts in all for easy movement. Over his chest and abdomen was a massive black breast plate. In the center of that was an intricately etched goblin face to let other fighters know what kingdom he represented. He also wore black spiked cuffs on his shoulders and black metal coverings over his upper arms, elbows, lower arms, and black gloved hands. Falling from the cuffs on his shoulders behind him was a long dark black cape. This one held no glitter as so many of his capes tended to do, for in war, such a thing had no place with so much blood and death. Strapped to his waist was the sheath of a long, wide sword of black metal, and in the hilt of the sword were gorgeous crystals akin to those he used for magic, intricately inlaid into the metal. To top off the ensemble, the Goblin King wore black hair feathers in his mullet.

As he took another step towards the battle before him, a taller goblin whose spiked helmet just came to Jareth's shoulders walked up to him, whispering through the grates of his silver helmet, _"Sire?"_ he whispered, having thick, black hairy arms and legs and wearing silver armor with a red orb on the front of his breastplate. Jareth glanced at him. The goblin was the leader of the red legion of his goblin foot soldiers. There were a total of five such legions in the Goblin City's forces, all represented by different colors. There was the red legion, the green legion, the blue legion, the yellow legion, and the white legion. The legion that each soldier belonged to was represented by the different colored orbs on their breast plates. Each legion contained at least thirty goblins of varying shapes and sizes. The red legion was Jareth's own personal guard that resided in the lower levels of the Castle. Their leader, Grindelwald, was Jareth's second in command in the goblin army. He gazed at his king with worried blue eyes, as Jareth sighed. "What is it, Grindelwald?" the King muttered with a frown. _"S-sire, I was just . . . what are your orders, my King?"_ the goblin whispered, clearly nervous around Jareth. And he had a right to be. Over the past two weeks, Jareth had been in a dark, brooding mood, mostly sulking about in his office.

The King himself emitted a dark aura in the castle wherever he went, and whenever he was just slightly displeased with a goblin on the rare occasion when he would be in the throne room, there would be no questions asked or excuses taken. The goblin in question would be immediately transported to the Bog of Eternal Stench. The goblin population had lost ten members that way. . .

Jareth knew he'd been in a dark mood, and knew that Grindelwald had every right to be worried. But he also felt that _he_ had every right to behave the way he had been behaving. After all, two weeks previous, his heart had been shredded to pieces by that damned mortal, Sarah Williams. He'd opened his heart to Sarah and sung to her his soul song, which was a song that had resided in his heart for all of his life. He had waited to sing his soul song solely to that one being with whom his soul truly felt a deep, intimate bond. Said being was otherwise known as his bond mate. Every Fae had one. It was that one being that completed a Fae and made him or her feel as though they could live an eternity with nothing but that being and be just as happy as if they'd lived in the lap of luxury for all of that time. And when one of the Fae sang to their bond mate their soul song, like Jareth had attempted to do to Sarah in the Crystal Ballroom, the bond between the two was supposed to strengthen both bond mates. The song was supposed to fill them with warmth and make them feel complete. And at that moment, if a Fae's bond mate accepted the one presenting them with the song, their bond with the other would be made firm and unbreakable. The pair would form a connection between their souls that would be of great power. That had been Jareth's hopes for him and Sarah as he'd danced with her around that enchanted room. Upon her rejection of him and his song, however, such an opportunity was lost.

Any normal Fae would have given up at that point, but Jareth had given Sarah one more chance. He was so sure that she'd accept him if he just gave her one more try, because he was absolutely sure he had felt a connection between the two the minute she'd entered the Labyrinth. He'd already been captivated by her in the mortal realm of the Aboveground, but once he'd felt a change come upon his spirit as she'd walked into the great structure that was the pride of his land, he had been _sure_ that she and he were destined to be together forever. And so, when she'd foolishly jumped to save her brother in the Escher room, he'd reordered time, and had approached her once again, opening up his heart to her as he practically begged for her to love him and to stay with him. He'd put his feelings in her hands, believing that surely she'd accept him, and with those six stupid words, she'd ripped those feelings apart. It'd filled him with a pain unlike any other. It'd also made him decide something quite important: that he'd never trust his heart with another being ever again. He had decided to build walls so high around his emotions that no creature could ever scale them, no matter how hard they tried.

He gritted his teeth against the pain that coursed through him as he recalled that awful encounter, and focused on the battle at hand. His darkened thoughts concerning love and matters of the heart had to be put on hold. Right now, he had a group of Latvanian Fae to help. "Grindelwald, I want your legion, the white legion, the blue legion, and the green legion to accompany me in combat inside the castle. I want the aerial force," he paused, and turned to a massive scaly goblin guard with lightweight armor on, which blinked at him with golden eyes. The thing's armor had a large black orb on the front of its breastplate and the creature itself had massive bat like wings that had formed out of its shoulder blades at a young age. Many various types of bombs that could be dropped from the sky could be seen tied to a belt wrapped around its waist. It was the leader of the flying goblin guards. Jareth blinked, and continued to issue his orders to the creature in question, "To stay with the yellow legion and the two cavalry legions. . ." at that moment he turned, and frowned at the two massive legions of soldiers in blue and red armor on the goblin creatures that were so much like the mortals' "dinosaurs", before continuing, "And fight out here in the clearing." Turning back to the battle before him as the goblin legion leaders nodded quickly in understanding, he walked forward a few feet and said loudly, eyes locking on the two large front doors of the castle, which were now pieces of broken wood and wrought iron littering the front steps to the structure. They had no doubt been torn down in the initial attack made by the Bosnians, "Now, all of you listen to me!" he snapped in a deep rumbling voice, and he heard all of the goblins stiffen and stand straighter behind him.

Once he was sure that they were all at full attention and listening to his every word, Jareth continued in a loud voice, "As your King, I _demand_ that you fight to preserve the honor of the Underground, and the Labyrinth that resides within it! Therefore, I expect _all_ of you to continue to fight _until you cannot fight any more_! You are not to retreat from the battle as you so foolishly did when that damn monster caused those rocks to invade your city! Not unless I order you to do so, anyway! Do I make myself _clear_?" he snapped. The goblins glanced around nervously at that, looking at the barbaric, taller Fae Warriors that fought the Fae, Demons, and Angels in the clearing on the other side of their leader. Gritting their teeth, they began to nod uneasily in obedience to their King's commands. Jareth narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the battle before him, "I understand that some of you may not want to fight the Bosnians. And to those, I say you may go home." Some smaller goblins looked at him in disbelief, eyes twinkling at the concept. "Just know that if you do so, I will waste no time in TIPPING YOU HEADFIRST INTO THE BOG OF ETERNAL STENCH AND HOLDING YOU THERE SO THAT YOU WILL STINK ALL OVER FOR ALL OF ETERNITY!" Jareth shouted angrily, "That goes for anyone who wants to retreat during the battle as well! Now, do _I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?" _"YES SIR KING SIR!" the goblins shouted in renewed fervor.

Jareth smirked, and turned on his heel to gaze at them all, "You lot are a good fighting force. You should be proud of yourselves. . ." As he saw the Goblins beam at his praise, the Fae turned back around to face the battle beyond, glared dead ahead, and drew his long sword, holding it high before him so that it gleamed in the sunlight raining down upon them, "SO LET'S GO! SHOW THESE FOOLS THAT THE UNDERGROUND HAS THE BEST DAMN ARMY IN ALL OF THE FAE KINGDOMS!" The goblins erupted in a loud battle cry, and in no time, were running either behind their King as he rushed across the blood soaked soil to the castle or were going their own way to do as he'd ordered them.

Jareth growled, his long legs stretching out before him as he ran around the bodies, leaping over already dying ones and dodging others as their hosts fought. Every once and a while, the Goblin King would use his sword to fend off the Bosnians as they attempted to block his way. As he heard his Goblins take down the barbaric Warriors behind him, the Goblin King having already wounded the Bosnians in question with his own weapon, he hurled himself across the battlefield towards the large, smoking building before him, as his mind focused on his true goal. He had to get to the Latvanian King Azul, and find out what he and his goblin guard behind him needed to do in order to help the other Fae ruler. As he neared the doors, he picked up his pace, as a part of the left side of the castle collapsed before his very eyes. The Fae gritted his teeth, and turned his head to look at the falling stone walls. He watched as the bodies of many Latvanians and Bosnians alike vainly launched themselves from the windows as the white stone crumbled down in an attempt to save themselves. He knew that the remaining fighters, including himself, didn't have much time before the structure began to collapse at a much faster rate as its foundation was damaged by the battle. So, if there was going to be any way of saving the princess or the king and thus preserving the royal line of the land, he had to find the king fast! He suddenly caught sight of a Bolf before him, feasting on a dead Latvanian woman lying on the front steps of the castle, and the Fae king growled in disgust, launching his sword through the air to spear through the howling creature. Rushing up to the now dead beast, he grabbed his sword hilt and continued to run inside. Once there, he quickly engaged two Bosnian barbarians in battle.

Quickly twisting around on his long legs, he whipped his arms around quickly, glaring hard into the eyes of the Warriors, his sword singing in the air as it swung towards them, blocking their attacks and slicing deep into them when the opportunities to do so presented themselves. Fight and fire now resided in his mismatched eyes, and as he heard his goblins yell and rush at the barbarians that were fighting behind him, he quickly took down the Warriors and rushed towards another group of Bosnians to engage them in battle as well, working his way deeper and deeper into the castle walls and chambers.

Up higher in the castle, King Azul was barely holding off three barbaric Warriors of his own, his black hair gleaming in the light of nearby fires caused by fallen chandeliers, his arm arched back as he fought desperately to stay alive. As one of them knocked his sword away, he thought he was done for, when . . . the one on the left groaned, as a small fur lined axe slammed deep into his helmeted head. Blood oozed from beneath the armor, and the Barbaric Fae groaned before falling to the side, knocked out. At that moment, another pair of swords, slenderer than Azul's but still very deadly, sank deep into the chests of the other two barbarians at slants in order to get past their torso armor, and slashed out to the sides, ripping straight through their hearts and making them fall to their knees before dying. The lad holding the swords rushed up, a young Latvanian servant Fae. Growling as he quickly sliced off the first Bosnian's bloody head to make sure that he died, he turned and tilted his head in respect to Azul. The younger Fae male had brown hair that drooped over his forehead and bright blue eyes. He wore a dark blue long sleeve shirt, silver colored pants, and black boots. Moving his head back up to gaze intently into Azul's own sapphire lined pupils, the servant gasped, "Sire! I've taken the Princess to a small storage closet just down the corridor! An elf is currently watching over her!" He held out a black gloved hand covered in blood, "She's safe for now, but we must hurry!" Azul nodded, and after picking his weapon up, quickly sheathed his own silver sword, which had a golden hilt, and took off after the lad, wearing a billowy blue shirt and black pants and boots with his golden crown still atop his head. He'd just managed to grab it as he'd prepared for the battle, the initial attack having occurred as he was preparing to go eat dinner.

The two rushed down the corridor just outside of the room Azul'd been fighting in and in the direction of the storage closet that the younger Fae had mentioned. As they ran, the Fae male of lower rank took down guard after guard as he went, panting slightly due to his exertion. Finally, they saw the place where he'd left the Princess. The elf he'd mentioned before was trying her hardest to put up a good fight against some Bosnians, but the smaller, weaker creature was easily getting overpowered by them and their Bolfs.

As the largest Bolf lunged forward and closed its jaws around her neck, the younger Latvanian rushed forward, and quickly speared straight through the Bosnian creature's heart with his right hand's sword, before quickly turning to the other creatures that then leapt towards him, their jaws wide open, with their Bosnian Warrior owners lunging at him as well from behind their pets. Azul lunged forward and caught the largest Bosnian straight through his helmet and through the back of his head, as the younger Latvanian male took on three Bolfs, slicing quickly through them and tearing them apart. As the creatures fell, the younger Fae turned to the Bosnians behind them and was aided by the King further as they took on the Warriors, fighting hard against their foes as screams from Latvanians and Angels and Demons and Bosnians alike filled the air. Finally, all lay dead before the two Latvanian Fae. At that moment Azul turned to the boy, who now was doubled over in exhaustion with his hands firmly on his knees, his eyes shut tight as he breathed hard in and out. Azul smiled at him, placing a firm hand on the lad's shoulder, "_Nathaniel, I am honored that you have gone to such great lengths to protect me and my daughter. . ." _Nathaniel turned to him, and bowed his head, "_Anything for you, my king." _With that, the two rushed into the storage closet.

The white haired girl with bright blue eyes stared at her father with fear written all over her face. She had been hiding out in a storage closet of the castle. It had been where Nathaniel had taken her after rushing into her room moments after she'd awoken from a light nap to the first sounds of trouble coming from the parts of the castle below her. Now her father had rushed into the closet and gripped her shoulders, her only wearing a sleeveless silver dressing gown and slipper shoes of the same color. Azul frowned at Arissa, "_Arissa, you listen to me, go with Nathaniel. . ."_ he whispered, and turned to the brown haired blue eyed 24 year old now standing to the right of his 18 year old daughter. She glanced nervously at Nathaniel, able to see the fresh blood still wet on his clothing. He smiled weakly at her, some of the blood also in his hair. She couldn't smile back. She hated war and hated violence. And he was her best friend, despite being her servant. She didn't want to see him like this . . . she didn't want him to be combined with things she hated. She shut her eyes tight, tears racing down, trying to erase the image from her mind as she shivered. Nathaniel reached over with a soft sigh and rested a hand on the Princess's shoulders. . .

Nathaniel remembered the day he had been hired on to be Arissa's caretaker once Queen Aryanna had passed . . . or been murdered . . . the king preferred for people to word it the first way. It would have been a lie to say that he wasn't attracted to her. That he didn't want to marry her one day. But he knew that could never happen. Sure, he felt strongly for her, but he knew he wasn't her bond mate, even though he'd always kind of looked over her since they were kids. He knew it wasn't meant for them to be married, because he felt no energy spike in his energy streams when they were near one another. Only a warmth. And he knew he had to feel something more if she was truly his bond mate. Still, that didn't keep him from protecting her with all he had. Like he was prepared to do right now.

Arissa breathed hard, fear filling her, gazing at Nathaniel as he gazed at her with those warm blue eyes. She reached up, shaking, and touched his cheek, the fear in her own eyes dying down a bit as he rested his other hand on her other shoulder. She leaned close, breathing in his scent, trying to get her focus past the blood and smoke on his clothes. She gripped his shirt tightly, whimpering, tears streaming down as she felt his strong arms enclose around her. Yes. With Nathaniel protecting her she would be safe. She didn't doubt that . . . her and her Father would be alri. a thought suddenly occurred to her. Her father hadn't said he'd come with them. That meant . . . she whipped her head around, shaking, panic in her eyes as she gazed at her father. "Father, come with us! Don't go and do battle with. . ." "I have to. I am King. I must defend my land. But you must go with Nathaniel, my little sapphire." Arissa felt tears spill down her cheeks and rushed over to the man, throwing her arms around him, _"Please! Be careful!" _she whimpered. She still wasn't over the death of her mother. To lose her father too . . . he lightly pushed her shoulders back, and she moved away as he smiled, kneeling, before her, "_I will be. . . But you have to be strong. You have to be brave and go with Nathaniel. At least for just a little while. . . I'll see you later. Okay?" _he whispered. He turned to Nathaniel, "You know where to take her."

Nathaniel bowed, "Yes, my king." The second the attack had begun, he'd rushed Arissa to the meeting place he and King Azul had already planned for emergencies. This closet . . . having a room adjacent to Arissa's, the boy had luckily been able to reach her in time. They had come here to assure Azul that his daughter was alive. Now he was to take her to the second meeting place they'd agreed upon. Azul turned and smiled at Arissa, "I'll meet with you later, darling." He leaned forward, and cupping her head, pressed a warm kiss to her brow. She shivered and tears rolled down her cheeks as he quickly exited the closet. Nathaniel turned to her, determination in his blue eyes. Now it was their turn to leave. And he knew he had to protect the Princess at all costs. She was Latvania's only hope for a good future. "We have to leave, now, Arissa." Turning, she bit her lip and nodded, offering him her hand.

Nathaniel gripped her hand so tightly his knuckles were turning white beneath his gloves as he rushed down the corridor of the castle, the girl having hiked her dress up in order to keep up with him. It was a corridor well off the beaten track of the castle, and not one that was normally visited. It was her mother's old corridor. She shivered, glancing at the suits of armor around her. The sounds of the battles were far below them now as they silently rushed along the white marble floor, having climbed many flights of stairs to get up to the Queen's Wing after Nathaniel'd had to fend off many more Bosnian Warriors. Now Arissa herself had Bosnian blood covering some of her dress, since Nathaniel had refused to let go of her hand for fear of letting them hurt her and because of that had risked some blood getting on her. Both were covered in a fine layer of sweat. She sighed. The silence seemed to scare her more than anything. They had no idea how the battle was going on down below. . . "Nathaniel, where are we. . ." _"There's a hidden passage leading from Queen Aryanna's old bed chambers to a safe house far away from here,"_ he whispered, _"You'll be safe there. . ."_ "Why in my mother's old. . ." "_It is through the Queen's lineage that the Latvanian throne is filled. So compared to the King, her protection was of greater importance,_" Nathaniel whispered, "_Now come. We must hurry_!" At that moment, a tremor in the floor caused by the battle below unsettled them a little, as another part of the castle fell away. Arissa staggered a bit, as did Nathaniel, but his grip didn't loosen in the slightest. If anything, it tightened. Cursing lightly under his breath, Nathaniel pushed onward, stood upright, and threw open the large marble doors to the chamber, the doors themselves inlaid with gold with a Pegasus carving in the center of them. Arissa walked slowly in behind him as he let go of her hand and gazed around at the gold accented chamber.

It was a glossy white chamber, and was set up just like it was the day her mother had last been in it. She saw her mother's vanity in a corner. It was all made in silver, with silver utensils daintily placed upon it. She couldn't help but walk over to it and sit on the blue velvet cushion of the seat of the spindly chair there, gazing at the three mirrors before her. For so many years, her mother had stood behind her and worked through her daughter's silver curls at that mirror. The woman would describe during those times to Arissa that one day, Arissa would sit in a vanity and prepare to face her subjects, just as Aryanna often did at her own. Arissa sighed, slumping in the chair, gazing at the vanity. She'd hoped that the vanity her mother had spoken of during those times would be this one. But she highly doubted that would be possible. Even if this part of the castle didn't collapse, the beautiful vanity would perhaps still be destroyed by fire or looting. She turned her head and gazed at a glass box on the right side of the vanity's surface with her mother's white gold and sapphire crown in it, long, ornate spires stretching up from it, donned with the precious jewels. Slowly, she opened the crown's box. Some dust fluttered off of it as she did so and the Latvanian girl coughed a little on it before she picked up the crown carefully from the blue velvet pillow upon which it'd been sitting. Turning it over in her hands, she gazed down at it. Would she ever wear it?. . . the castle was under attack. . . what if she died. . . what if. . . what if Latvania fell completely to the Bosnians. She shut her eyes tight, gripping the crown tightly in her hands. So much was happening so fast. It was hard for her to take it all in. Lifting her head up, she turned slowly to the silver brush lying on the vanity's counter, with silver wisps of Aryanna's hair still in it after all of the years of disuse. At the thought of the years that had gone by since her mother's passing, Arissa shut her eyes tight and shook, clutching the brush in one hand and the crown in the other, hunched over in the chair as she drew the two objects to her chest. They smelled of her mother, and a huge wave of longing swept through her. It'd been five years. Five long years. . .

"_Arissa, it's time to depart. . ."_ Nathaniel whispered, cutting through her thoughts. She turned in the chair, setting the objects down in her lap and gripping the back of the piece of furniture she sat upon, twisting around to face Nathaniel. He blinked at her as she gazed at him. He was waiting for her to get up and come over to him . . . she glanced at the bed behind him. Half of the blue satin and goose feather silver pillow covered bed had been lifted up on some hinges. From where she sat, she could see the earthen tunnel that had been hidden beneath it. Nathaniel looked at her with sympathetic blue eyes. He could see the fear and sadness in her eyes. She was worried about her country, she was worried about her father, and now, memories of the death of her mother were flooding into her mind. But still, they had to leave. Or she, the last hope Latvania had of continuing on, could die as well. _"Arissa, we have to go now. While the tunnel's still stable. They haven't attacked it yet. Otherwise the bed would not have lifted up for us. It's enchanted. It's safe. But it may not be that way for long. We have to go, Arissa. Please hurry! "_ he whispered quickly, with one foot already on the top step of the tunnel. Arissa gazed at him as the Fae held out a hand towards her. She frowned, put the crown and brush on the vanity counter, and got up. Before she walked over to Nathaniel, however, she turned to look at the crown and brush once more. They had been her great grandmother's. She couldn't leave them behind to be destroyed. She quickly slid both into a pocket on the right side hip area of her gown and moved over towards Nathaniel to gaze down into the dank dark hole that was the tunnel. She knew it was a long way down. And she knew that once they started their journey down into it, there would be no turning back. She would probably never return to her castle as it currently stood . . . The thought sent cold fear down her spine. She turned to Nathaniel and new tears streaked down her cheeks. _"Is my father really going to come meet us?"_ she whispered. And she saw it in his eyes: the truth.

Nathaniel knew that it would be a miracle for Azul to make it alive. They'd both known that, him and the king. But he was charged with the protection of Arissa, and he was going to make sure she got out of this alive. Taking care of the Princess was his number one priority. And if he had to lie to her before as they'd run through the corridors in order to do just that, then he was willing to make that sacrifice. But now he knew he couldn't hide the fact that Azul's chances of survival would be close to none in the battle below.

Arissa felt her heart break at Nathaniel's next words. "I'll protect you, Arissa. I always have. . ." she sobbed, and threw herself into his arms as she wept. He tried to calm her, rubbing her white, silky locks with a gloved hand, gazing sadly at the room around them as he held her tightly while she sobbed into his chest, "Shhh, Arissa, shhh, I swear, nothing's gonna hurt you. . . I. . . _Arissa you need to go. Now._" She frowned at his change in tone, and tilted her head back a bit, gazing up at him quizzically. But he wasn't looking at her. He was fixated on something behind her. Near the door . . . Turning her head, the Fae Princess stared, wide eyed, at the three Bosnian barbarians all smirking triumphantly at them both. The three dirty and bloody Fae males had their massive swords and daggers drawn, and she was getting a _very_ bad feeling by the way they were looking at her. She moved slowly to stand behind him, her fear evident in her movements, gazing with frightened over his shoulder at the Warriors, placing her two hands on her protector's shoulder blades, _"Nathaniel. . ."_she whimpered. Nathaniel drew one of his swords from its sheath at his hip in one hand, and used the other to cup one of her own that was lying on his shoulder. He tried to grip her hand tightly in an attempt to assure her that she'd be safe. But quite frankly, even he wasn't so sure about that . . . but he still wanted to ease her fear . . . "_It'll be okay, Arissa. I promise."_ He whispered quietly, "_Go to the hole as fast as you can." _She sobbed a bit into his shirt, burying her forehead into his hand that was over hers.

"Don't say something to the little lady you don't mean, pretty boy!" one sneered, his black teeth gleaming, and took a firm step forward. He was clearly the leader. Nathaniel gritted his teeth tightly together, and as the leader took another step forward it caused Nathaniel to back up a step as the Bosnian spoke "Why don't you just hand the pretty little thing to us? We'll take _good _care of her!" he sneered, grinning lecherously at her, holding out a hand and waving at her to come over to the Warriors. Arissa gazed with wide, frightened blue eyes at him, gripping Nathaniel's shoulders even tighter, the Fae Princess shaking all over with her heart beating quickly in her chest. Nathaniel frowned hard at the man, fury in his bright blue eyes, and took a firm step forward, raising his own sword higher in the air, "I won't let you put a single one of your filthy, barbaric hands on her! I've sworn to protect her, and that's just what I plan on doing! . . . Arissa! You have to get out of here! _NOW_!" Arissa whimpered and shook her head. She'd already lost her father and mother. She couldn't lose Nathaniel too! "Not without you!" she whimpered. "That's right boy! Let the little lady stay!" the one to the leader's right sneered, "We'll be done with you in an instant! No sense in making her go down into that tunnel to wait for us!" Nathaniel narrowed his eyes, and gripped his sword tighter, before the three Bosnians lunged for the two Latvanians. Pushing Arissa in the general direction of the hole, Nathaniel lunged forward as well.

The two Warriors of lower ranking easily over took him and bound him tightly, hogtying him and throwing him to the floor. Arissa cried out as the leader's large, bloody, grimy hand closed around her delicate pale wrist, keeping her from the hole in case she chose to try that escape route. She shrieked and writhed, panicking and kicking out at the barbarian as the man's sour, alcoholic breath hit her cheek as he pulled her close. She tried to aim a punch at his face, but he only caught that hand in his remaining free hand. This left her with nothing to do but gaze tearfully into the dark muddy brown eyes of her captor as he sneered, "A fighter, huh? No problem. I like it rough. . ." leaning forward, he moved his long, nasty tongue up her left cheek. The action left a long, slimy trail on her pale skin, and she shivered. As Nathaniel roared and writhed in anger, glaring intently at the Bosnian holding his friend, the Princess whimpered and pushed against the barbarian's chest, eyes shut tight, "Please! Leave me alone! Please!" He chuckled and took both of her wrists into one hand, "Heh heh, I don't think so sweetheart. . ." reaching up, he gripped her chin and tilted it to him, giving her no choice but to gaze, now more fearful than ever before, into his face. She whimpered, and as he moved closer the fingers of the hand on her chin pressed into her cheeks, forcing her to open her jaws and mouth as the Bosnian prepared to kiss her. Arissa screamed as loudly as she could and quickly head butted him as she wrenched her chin out of his hand before kicking him hard in the crotch. As the male let go of her and dropped to the floor, growling in the sharp pain, she pushed him away, and turned around to face the hole again. But before she could get inside the tunnel, he was standing up yet again. Growling, he swung a dirty, bloody arm around her stomach. She screamed and writhed some more, as he pulled her closer to him. Grunting, the Bosnian reached around the Fae Princess with one hand and gripped her wrists tightly while breathing hard on her ear, "You really are a feisty one, huh? Tell ya what: We were going to let your little boyfriend live, but since you've really made me mad now, we're just going to kill him anyway and then . . ." he raced his dirty tongue up her cheek once more. She whimpered and heard someone slam the bed back down, blocking the tunnel off. "I'm gonna take ya and break ya. Once and for all," the leader slurred.

Arissa was thrown onto the bed roughly, and quickly flipped over by one of the Bosnians. She screamed and writhed and shrieked as the one who had flipped her over to face the ceiling now moved quickly to her hands and held her arms firmly apart, gripping her wrists to the point where she knew it'd cut off the circulation of blood to them in no time. The beheaded, dead body of Nathaniel, his neck having been sliced straight through by a sword, lay on the floor. As the leader nodded and the other Bosnian of lower rank gripped her ankles and spread her legs apart, the Fae male quickly straddled her, and she could see the blood streaming from his nose as a result of when she'd hit him with her head earlier. Frowning at her, he lifted the hem of her dress and pushed the material up to her thighs. "STOP IT! STOP IT!" she shrieked, writhing. And his other dirty hand clamped onto her mouth. Her eyes grew wide as the leader leaned down, her nostrils flaring as she breathed heavily through them, her chest rising quickly up and down in her fear. He smirked at her, his bare torso pressing down upon her, drinking in the fear in her eyes, _"Be a good girl and stop writhing so much, pretty . . .it'll all be over soon."_

She gritted her teeth, and with all of her remaining strength, wrenched one of her hands free, grabbed her mother's crown from her pocket, and brought the object up to be near her face before she stabbed one of his dark eyes with it. He roared, flinging his head back, clutching his now bleeding eye socket. She bit deep into his hand, feeling the blood spurt and flow over her teeth, causing him to draw back, and then the Fae girl lunged up with all of her might and rammed her body up against him, forcing him to tumble off of her. As he tumbled off, he rammed into the Bosnian that was at her ankles, taking him onto the floor along with him. She jerked her feet up now that they were free, and bouncing off of the bed to gain more force behind her next move, slammed her slipper covered soles into the other's face. As he rolled back from the force of the sudden attack, he let go of her hands. Wasting no time, Arissa slipped the crown back into her pocket and shot up from the bed and tried to lift the piece of furniture to enter the hidden passage. She gritted her teeth . . . it was stuck . . . not good . . . she turned to the men, and gritted her teeth. They were already rising up from the floor . . . she shrieked as they grabbed for their swords, and turning, grabbed the nearest heavy object she could find: her mother's vanity chair. Whipping around with a yelp, she flung it at them, and was pretty sure she hit at least two with it. Then one of the Warriors, she wasn't sure who, grabbed her dress with his massive, dirty hand. The material tore as she pulled some of it free, and she rushed to the doors leading out into the corridor beyond. Whipping around once she was out in the hall, she gripped the edges of the doors and slammed them closed.

She gritted her teeth, gazing up at the ancient Fae lock in the center of the doors, right below the Pegasus's head etched into the stone, and moved her hand over the golden object, closing her eyes and focusing all of her energy into her hand. "_Ancient Fae magic, I call on you now. Seal this lock shut with the magic I've been endowed. . ." _she whispered, praying that the incantation would work. She'd never been all that good at such things when she'd practiced before. As she opened her eyes, she grinned, as the edges of the door along with the lock melted instantly. Not exactly what she had had in mind, but it would certainly work! It was then that she heard them banging on the other side, trying to get out. The Princess knew they couldn't break through. No matter how strong they were. The marble wouldn't give. Finally out of immediate danger, she sighed, and turning, leaned against the door, closing her sapphire blue eyes. Nathaniel was still trapped in there. . . _It's just his body though. He's dead. . . I can't worry about him_, she thought sadly, hot tears racing down her cheeks. _Right now, I just need to try to get out of here._ Turning, gripping an edge of her dress in her hand the Fae rushed to get out of the hall. Just as she was about to leave the corridor, however, she paused, grabbed a sword from a suit of armor, and went on her way, gripping the sword tightly in her right hand as she ran, her left still holding up her dress. She may need it . . . who knew what waited for her down below. . .

Arissa's heartbeat was in her ears as she rushed down the silent, white marble corridor minutes later, various tapestries of Pegasi, Elves, Unicorns, and Fae on the walls in ornate shades of blue, yellow, red, and green. She grunted as she still carried a portion of her dress before her and half-dragged half-carried the sword behind her, its point scraping along the floor as the Fae hoped she wouldn't stumble and fall. But ironically enough, she didn't hope such a thing because that could mean her falling prey to Bosnians. Contrary to the commotion that she knew was going on floors below her, the part of the castle she was running in was so quiet, even her slippers seemed loud as they slapped the floor when she ran. In fact, the only other sound that could be heard over the scraping of her sword was the sound of her own deep breathing as she rushed down the hallway. Finally, she knew she had to take a moment to catch her breath, and putting the sword with its point down in front of her, leaned over it, taking in deep breaths as she tried to assess her situation.

"_Alright, so the tunnel won't work because it's collapsed. That's why the bed didn't open for me . . . so the only way to get out of here is to go down. But what's down?" _As if to remind her, a tremor ran through the building, as the foundation of her home was shaken once more. She sighed, steadying herself quickly in order to remain upright, "_The battle. Alright. . ." _she ran a hand through her silver hair, only to have it fall back into her face, "_And without Nathaniel, I have little chance of holding off very many Bosnians, so I need to avoid the battle . . . but then that would mean going up. And if I go up, I have no way out . . . And if I have no way out, they're going to. . ." _Suddenly, her mind went to the image of the evil Bosnian leaning over her, pulling up her dress, about to . . . about to. . . She sobbed, and held a hand to her forehead, kneeling down and pressing her face against the hilt of the sword, tears streaking down her now dirty cheeks. _"No, I definitely can't let that happen. . . Maybe. . . Maybe I can use the servants' passageways to get down. Maybe the Bosnians don't know about those yet. . . I. . . I think I can remember them. . . Maybe. . . I hope so. . ." _Suddenly, the sounds of explosions and blasts and Fae screams floated in through a shattered window to her left. Standing up, the Fae girl walked over, blinking, and gazed out.

Arissa stared at the Fae, Angels, and Demons fighting just outside of the castle doors, or what was left of them. And her eyes widened, gazing at all those Bosnian Warriors, who she knew wouldn't spare a thought in doing the same thing that that one warrior was about to do to her before. _"Even if I get out, they'll be waiting for me . . . and if I live through that, they'll take me back to Bosnia and. . . and . . ." _she let out a sob, and her knees buckled, as she landed hard on the marble floor, her face in her hands, and began to weep. There was no way out. That was what was going on. That was her situation. Her dad could be dead, Nathaniel _was _dead. Her mother had already died . . . and she was just buying time until the Bosnians came up and killed her or worse. . . Her world was quite literally falling apart at the seams. Turning her head up to the ceiling above her, she let the tears run silently down her cheeks as she whispered, _"Mother, what do I do? How am I going to get out of this?"_ It was then that a massive tremor shook the floor beneath her. Her eyes shot open and her heart stopped, as she whipped her head down and around and watched as a large crack formed in the marble floor just feet from her. Whipping her head around, she turned to where the sword lay where she'd left it, and rushed over to it, picking it up and gripping it tightly before she lunged forward with the sword in both hands, and slammed into the floor feet away from where the crack was, yelping upon impact. Grunting, she slammed the point of the sword hard down into the marble, wedging it as far into the stone as it would go, all the way to the hilt. Gritting her teeth, she held on tightly to it.

For a few minutes, she only lay there, panting, glancing around nervously as the crack in the marble behind her spread even further throughout the floor. Sighing, she put her forehead to the cool marble beneath her, sweat rolling down her face, wondering when the inevitable would happen. And then it did. She screamed, head thrown back, as the floor beneath her legs and abdomen fell away, gripping the hilt of the sword in her hands so hard her knuckles were as white as the marble that had just crumbled away, praying that her strength would be enough to keep her from following the massive pieces of stone. As the sounds of the battle below finally reached her, the Fae Princess turned her head slowly and gazed with wide, fearful eyes over her shoulder down into the newly formed hole and saw only a pit of fire deep down in what had once been the dungeons of the castle. She tightened her grip, and tried to hoist herself further up onto the ledge of stone that had remained, panting harder. All fifty stories of the castle below her were collapsing or had already collapsed, forming a large gaping hole that seemed to open up to her like the mouth of death ready to swallow her. She panted, and as the ledge within which her sword was wedged gave a jolt, yelped in fear. And couldn't help but find her situation ironic: She'd been wanting to find a way out of getting raped by a Bosnian, and now that an opportunity presented itself, she didn't want to take it. She groaned, and pressed her face against the marble again, as it began to tilt down, towards the pit. _What did I ever do to make fate hate me so much? Or is it just that I'm too hard to please? _The ledge gave a jerk and slanted even more, and she sighed. _Well, there's only one thing I can do now . . . 3-2-1. . ._It was then that the ledge fully gave way, and with a loud shriek, the Fae girl fell with her back to the fire below, screaming at the top of her lungs, eyes shut tight, arms held out from her body as the wind and sounds of battle rushed quickly past her ears.

"KING! LOOK!" Grindelwald shouted as he let the body of a Bosnian Warrior he'd just beheaded fall to the cracked, blood covered marble floor. Jareth whipped his head around, some blood in fact covering his black armor, face, and cape, and as his eyes followed the goblin's pointing finger, stared. Stories above, a girl shrieked as she went hurtling down through the holes made in the central area of the castle due to floors having given way previously. Her drawn out cry was full of fear and almost unnatural . . . and it touched something in him. Backing up a bit, killing the barbarian he was fighting easily with his sword through the Bosnian's head, he sheathed his weapon and rushed forward, shouting to the girl, "HOLD ON!" With that he launched himself into the air and did a quick flip off of the ledge, transforming as he did so into an owl and flying across the large vacant area just as the girl came to be right in front of him. Changing back quickly into his Fae form, he swept his strong Fae arms around her slender waist as he collided with her. She yelped as he did so, and her hands landed firmly on his back as her legs slammed up into his own as her course was redirected. And he couldn't tell if the yelp was from relief that she was alive or fear of who he could be. Before he had any more time to wonder about such a thing the two slammed into the ledge across from where he'd been fighting, and rolled head over heels against the stone floor until finally, she was lying face up and spread eagled beneath him as he crouched down over her, his hands firmly on either side of her face.

He blinked at the girl, who was panting hard with her eyes shut tight. Then the Goblin King turned, gazing at Grindelwald and his legion still on the other ledge. Taking in the fighting around him and the girl, Jareth knew that he needed the goblins to give him cover while he assessed the situation. So, sitting back a bit on his heels, he flicked the wrist furthest from the goblins, forming a crystal quickly in that palm, "STAND BACK!" he shouted, and the goblins nodded, rushing away from the edge of their ledge, before he tossed the crystal as hard as he could at a massive statue of some Latvanian Fae male on their side of the hole, hitting the foundation of the marble structure with his crystal. The magical object shattered, and sent out a small blast of magic that made the foundation of the statue on that side crumble away, before the newly unsettled sculpture fell forward and formed a bridge across the hole. "COME ACROSS!" he shouted, and the goblins nodded, quickly clamoring over the newly made pathway to rush up to their king, taking down Warriors and Bolfs that got in their way as they did so.

He looked Grindelwald directly in the eyes as the goblin leader rushed up to him, grunting, holding his blood smeared silver sword in one hand and a bloody axe he'd taken from a fallen Bosnian in the other. "Grindelwald, I need you and the other goblins to keep the Warriors away for now. Can you do that?" the goblin bowed low, "But of course, my king." Turning, he rushed off and told the other goblins what Jareth had ordered, and the legion immediately set about holding the Warriors and their pets off from the Fae King and girl. Turning, Jareth breathed hard, and faced the girl beneath him. Arissa stared back up at him with frightened blue eyes, _"Y-you're Jareth of the Underground. The Goblin King?" _she whispered, tears streaking down in relief as she panted, her chest heaving up and down quickly as she gasped for breath. Jareth blinked, gazing into those wide blue eyes. _"Yes, that's me. But who are you?"_ He whispered, blinking, brushing a strand of white hair from her face. He knew he'd seen those eyes somewhere before, but he couldn't place a name to them . . . then it hit him.

_Jareth frowned, walking through the silent Latvanian ball room. It was a massive, beautiful white chamber, with dark blue and silver drapes hanging in the marble rafters and large, gorgeous tapestries hanging down the walls. Some Pegasi and Fairies flew up above those in the room, carrying behind them long, glimmering streamers and banners of dark blues and silvers with ancient Fae symbols that meant good fortune and long life etched into the material. Down below the creatures, Elves and Fae alike stood in their very best clothing, gazing at the small raised stone platform in the center of the room, its steps leading down from its stage like top now covered in a blue velvet material. And in the center of the stage, was the thing that everyone had come to see. Or rather, the being everyone had come to see._

_In an ornate silver crib with Elves, Unicorns, Fae, Fairies, Pegasi, and vines with gorgeous flowers blossoming from them etched into the sides, lay a small Fae babe, the first born to Queen Aryanna of Latvania. The Princess Arissa. She'd been born only a week before, and now, lay beneath the dark blue folds of her silk blanket, an arm wrapped around a doll in the shape of a unicorn. Jareth blinked, as he neared the stage, and turning his head, scanned the room, wearing a dark blue coat over a white shirt. Hanging against his chest by a chain from his neck was an amulet that looked like a crescent moon with its side turned upwards. He wore dark silver tights, dark blue boots, and black gloves. Blue streaks were in his blonde mullet, and a long glittery midnight blue cape that matched his jacket flowed from two black metal cuffs on his shoulders. The Fae King knew all eyes in the room were on him, and he could see the Angel Queen Vatania in a large pink and gold dress with her hair up in her own crown that was themed after the sun with its long, thin spires, the Demon Lord Trojant in his best black armor and cape, and Queen Aryanna in her own dark blue and silver dress that brought out the color of her skin and hair beautifully standing on the edge of the crowd across from him on the other side of the platform. _

_The Fae Queen's hair flowed beautifully down her back in silken waves away from her gorgeous face as her crown rested just behind her bangs. Beside her stood King Azul, who had one arm wrapped around his wife's waist while the other's hand held one of hers in his silver glove, him wearing a dark blue vest over a silver shirt, black trousers, and dark blue boots, his golden crown shining in the light provided in the chamber by massive silver chandeliers hanging up above them all. Beside the Latvanian couple stood the Bosnian King Leon, his arms folded firmly before his fur vest that he wore, some bandages wrapped firmly along his wrists and up to his elbows, wearing beige trousers that tucked into his large brown boots. His axe was strapped to his waist and his dark muddy brown eyes watched Jareth's every move, his bearded face set in a frown. The metal band with ancient Fae symbols for bravery etched into it was wrapped firmly around his head, signifying that he was in fact the current King of Bosnia. Jareth knew why they were all watching him. He was the youngest Fae Ruler present, having only been in power for about 292 years, and this was the first time he'd attended a celebration of the birth of another ruler's baby. This was a time when he would either shine with competence, or fall with ignorance. Gritting his teeth, the Fae slowly made his way to the steps leading up to the Latvanian babe, more nervous about this ceremony than of anything he had ever faced before._

_Each ruler of each land was required to come and offer something to each babe born to the royal families of another land precisely one week after the child was born. That had been something decided upon in a 100 year meeting years before Jareth's own birth. Jareth had of course known that fact when he'd been coronated, and knew what typically went on in a ceremony such as this. Each ruler came up, gave the child what they had for them, and then left after blessing the babe in front of everyone. The blessing was typically some form of declaration of what they'd given the child, the ruler in question stating their own rank, and a phrase along the lines of "May this child live long and prosper!" before the ruler went and rejoined the crowd of onlookers. The Angel Queen had brought Arissa a massive golden sculpture of a swan, the Demon Lord had brought a ring made from the stone of his volcanic kingdom with a red stone set in the middle of it, and Leon had brought wrapped in some fur a large slab of meat he'd gotten after slaying his "very best Taurvid calf". The swan and meat had been laid on the velvet rug around the base of the ornate crib, while the ring had been slipped onto Arissa's pointer finger of her right hand. Jareth had nothing in his pockets of his coat or anything in his hands, but that was often typical of the Underground Fae Rulers in these ceremonies. While Latvanian and Bosnian Fae did not use magic on an everyday basis, the Underground Fae did, and so it was traditional for the Goblin King to always form a gift using magic or to use a spell upon the babies born to the other kingdoms. Now it was only a matter of Jareth deciding what he'd actually make for young Arissa. But that wasn't why he was nervous, either. After all, he could just form for her a crystal with energy moving inside of it which would have in its spectrum all of the colors of the rainbow and be done with the whole matter. No. What was making him nervous was one thing that this ceremony didn't have that the ones he had been to as a young Fae did. And that was sound._

_Even if the crowds at these things were quiet, one could always count on the baby making some gurgling noise, or crying, or . . . something. But here, Arissa made no such noise. He blinked as he neared the crib. He was now on top of the platform. Slowly he moved over, leaned over the crib, and looked down into the sapphire blue eyes of the Latvanian Princess as the child gazed quietly back at him. He sighed. So, the rumors WERE true. The young Fae had in fact been born mute. The child had no voice with which to make even the smallest giggle. This was the first time such a thing had happened to any Fae, and it made Jareth sigh before reaching down with a hand and brushing a finger across Arissa's pale cheek. Such a thing alone was enough to cause his mind to be unable to focus on anything he could do for the babe. After all, he'd always expected for his first ceremony that he'd attend as a ruler to be one with a noisy baby. That had been what he'd prepared himself for. And to not have Arissa making a single sound . . . it threw him off. And now, he had no idea what to do._

_In his scatter brained state, as the baby Fae gazed up at him with her beautiful eyes as he stroked her cheek, Jareth recalled a sound he'd heard that morning as he'd exited his bathroom to get dressed for the ceremony. It'd been a gorgeous song sung by a beautiful bright blue songbird perched on the ledge of his open window. The Goblin King had sat on the ledge and gazed down at the bird as he listened to its song, stroking its feathers lightly with his finger. If there was one thing he was thankful for, it was the fact that since he turned into a bird on a regular basis, the other birds of his kingdom trusted him enough to allow him to do such a thing. As he was recalling the beautiful song, he suddenly knew what he'd give to Arissa. And so he smiled down at the Fae child who frowned at him, clearly expecting him to do something as the other rulers had done. "Don't you worry, Princess. I know precisely what to give you," he grinned, now wiggling his finger that had been stroking her face in front of her eyes. She grinned, and reaching up with one hand from beneath her blanket, gripped his finger and tugged it to her open mouth as if to suck on it. He smirked. Or perhaps, the child knew what he was about to do. "You're a smart little babe, aren't you?" he murmured. With that, the Goblin King flicked his other wrist, forming a crystal within it that had a blue tint in its edges. The girl blinked, her eyes widening, as he moved it around his hand as he moved his hand slowly back and forth, contact juggling the crystal before her very eyes as he moved it closer to her. Reaching out, the girl made to touch it, and he pulled his hand back, taking the crystal just out of her reach, smiling calmly at her, "Hold on. . ." The baby held out her hands for the crystal a little longer, but once she was sure he wasn't going to give her the crystal at that moment, she flopped her hands back down before she turned to him, her blue eyes looking curiously into his mismatched ones. He smiled, and twisted his wrist around, the crystal rolling up of off it to sit on his fingertips as he held it the object up between them. _

_Slowly, Jareth moved the magical object up to her lips, tilting his hand just a little as she began to move her lips wider over the crystal, sucking on it a little, her other hands reaching up to hold onto it over his own fingers. The crystal slowly changed into a light blue misty solution, and flowed into her mouth in a long blue trail. Once it was all inside of her, he smiled, and moving his hand over, rubbed her pale cheek once more, as she closed her mouth. A flicker of energy flashed in her eyes, and then she opened her mouth and giggled, smiling up at him, and held her hands up to him, wanting him to pick her up. A gasp fell over the crowd, and he chuckled, reaching down with both of his hands, straightening his back a little from where he'd been hunched over her crib, and gently picked her up, pulling the child out from under her covers to cradle her in his arms with her long silver gown hanging about a foot longer than her body, the light material floating on the air. She smiled, and reaching up, ran a hand over his right cheek as he grinned down at her as she gurgled and smiled up at him, squealing every once and a while. _

_Aryanna and Azul both took one step forward, the mother having a hand over her mouth, tears of happiness at her daughter having a voice rolling down her cheeks, the Latvanian Queen shaking just a little. Jareth turned, and faced the crowd, his eyes locking on Aryanna and Azul, "I, Jareth the Goblin King of the Underground, have given Princess Arissa of Latvania the gift of a voice. This is a voice as beautiful as the greatest song ever sung by the most magnificent of songbirds. I hereby bless this child with a long, prosperous life full of joy and happiness." A thunderous round of applause rose up within the crowd, and Aryanna rushed forward, smiling at the Goblin King and her daughter. Lifting up her dress a little, the Latvanian Queen quickly climbed the stairs before rushing over to Jareth, "Oh Jareth! Bless you!" she put her palms on the sides of his face, and quickly gave him two light kisses on his cheeks, and Jareth chuckled warmly as she did so, pulling back, the Fae woman smiling into his mismatched eyes. All he could see in those deep blue eyes was a grateful spirit. She sighed, happy tears streaming down her cheeks, "Bless you." Turning to Arissa, she smiled, and held out her hands. Jareth quickly shifted his arms so that she could take her daughter back. _

_As Arissa was moved into her mother's arms, Azul ran up, only slowing down as he reached his wife and daughter. Putting an arm around Aryanna's shoulders and his other hand on Arissa's small amount of snow white hair, he turned to Jareth, "Thank you. Truly. But how did you do it? How did you fix her voice?" Jareth smiled weakly back, "I did not, King Azul. I merely recalled the beautiful sounds a songbird made on my window this morning. I transferred all of the good things about that sound into Arissa. Nothing more." Aryanna smiled and turned to him, as Arissa grinned at him and continued to giggle at him, reaching out for him. Jareth chuckled, and held up his finger for the babe to grasp. He couldn't deny that Arissa was adorable. . . Aryanna then spoke to him, "Really, thank you, Goblin King." He turned to her and bowed his head a little, "It was the least I could do, Queen Aryanna." He slid his finger out of Arissa's hand and took the Queen's hand in his glove instead, pressing his lips to the pale flesh on the back of it, bowing to her fully. Standing up, he smiled his warmest smile at her, "Many blessings to you both." _

Jareth blinked down at the girl, the King still gazing into those deep blue sapphire eyes. And tilted his head, "_Arissa_?" he whispered, blinking, "_Princess Arissa?" _She nodded quickly, "_Yes sir. King Jareth, have you seen my father? Is he okay?" _Jareth sighed, and closed his eyes, tilting his head down a little. He had seen her father . . . but his answer to the second question wasn't one he wanted to share . . . he and King Azul had been fighting off some Bosnian Warriors when a stray flying axe from another fight had slammed right between the Latvanian King's eyes, sending him to the ground. Jareth had tried to rush over to help, but as a Bolf had lunged forward and grabbed hold of the Goblin King's armored right arm, the Bosnian Warrior closest to Azul had taken the opportunity to slash off the King's head with the Latvanian King's own sword, killing the Fae King. Jareth remembered the pain he'd felt when his own father had been murdered by a Bosnian Warrior in battle, and the last thing he wanted to see was that same pain in Arissa's eyes upon hearing about her father. _"He's dead, isn't he?" _Arissa's sad, weak voice croaked.

Jareth's eyes opened and he turned to the girl, who gazed up at him with her own pain-filled ones, tears streaking down her cheeks. The Latvanian Princess was shaking all over. Her right hand reached up and gripped Jareth's shoulder, "_He's dead. . . My father's dead. . ." _Jareth sighed, and nodded in the affirmative. Arissa shut her eyes tight, and the hand that was on his shoulder went back to her face to cover her mouth and nose. With that she began to gasp and sob as she cried into her hand, whimpering. He blinked, frowning, "Arissa, I've got to get you out of here. You need to get far far away from this battle. Okay?" Arissa's eyes shot open, and she stared at him, blinking, "I can't do that," she muttered, and the firmness in her voice took Jareth by surprise. He frowned, "Why not?" "My father's dead. My mother's dead. I'm the only one left in the royal family to uphold our honor and defend our land. I have to stay." Jareth frowned at the girl. He was pretty sure that this girl wouldn't be able to hold her own in battle . . . suddenly, something glinted in the light from a fire nearby. The light was being reflected by something down at her waist. Turning his head around a little to see the object better, he frowned, at the blood stained crown poking out of her pocket. It was unmistakably Aryanna's old crown . . . Reaching down, he frowned and quickly slid the object out of her pocket and held it up before him as he sat on his heels, blinking, turning it over in his hands. He could tell the blood was fresh . . . he turned to her, blinking, "How did this blood get here? Did you get wounded?" he asked, with only seriousness in his tone. She blinked, "No sir." He frowned, "Then whose blood is this?" She blinked, and remembered the Bosnian Warriors who had attacked her in her mother's chambers. As the memories flooded her mind, the Princess shut her eyes tight, choking out another sob. He sighed, "Why don't you just tell me it all from the beginning? What happened when the Bosnian Army attacked?"

As soon as the Fae Princess had finished the story at the point where she'd fallen and he'd caught her, Jareth frowned, his mind already forming a plan to get her out. He may have to lie, but it would be worth getting the only heir to the Latvanian throne out of the battle alive. He had no idea how long Latvania could remain a kingdom without a ruler, and so Arissa was no doubt her kingdom's only hope as her mother's only blood descendent. "Arissa," he took a deep breath and let it out, "You have to get out. . . I know you want to uphold your family's honor by defending this place. But you were smart when you got this crown. . ." he held it up, blinking at her, "You have to keep this safe. And it's not safe here. If you get hurt, the Bosnians could get it and break it. We don't need to let that happen. It was your mother's, right? We need to keep it safe." She frowned at him, "The crown has gotten broken before. And it's been repaired." "By some craftsmen that live in this building, right? Tell me, wasn't that Nathaniel's family?" Her eyes widened, as tears began to spill down her cheeks. He was right.

Jareth smiled weakly. He'd assumed that someone close to the royal family might be in charge of that . . . luckily, when he'd guessed Nathaniel, it'd been the right guess to make. _"Y-yes,"_ she whispered, closing her eyes tightly. He leaned down closer to her, blinking at her. She opened her eyes, and looked back at him as he continued, "Then we need to get the crown to a safe place. Because he's gone. Am I right?" She frowned, "I. . . I suppose so." He blinked, "Arissa, I can assure you. That safe place is my castle in the Underground. I can send you there like that. . ." he held up a hand and snapped his fingers before putting the crown back into her hands, "But first, I need you to eat this," he muttered, and flicked his wrist, forming a peach in it. _"What's that?"_ she whispered, frowning at the fruit. He sighed, "This is a peach that's been enchanted. It'll weaken your energy streams to the point where I can impose my magic on you like I need to in order to transport you to my castle. I assure you, that is _all_ _that I will do._ I swear that on my kingdom and my family's name." She blinked, frowning, and closed her eyes, leaning her head back against the stone with a deep sigh, "Alright."

Arissa quickly took large bites out of the peach, swallowing the pieces of fruit as quickly as possible as more tremors worked their way through the castle floors. Jareth gritted his teeth, quickly turning his hand to help her eat the entire fruit. The Goblin King was spending half of the time watching her and the other half watching his red legion taking down the Bosnians, gritting his teeth. It was the same fruit he'd told that dwarf to give to Sarah, and while for Sarah it only took one bite to knock the mortal out, with a Fae the entire peach was needed to knock them out and weaken their streams. And he knew that the more time Arissa spent eating the peach, the less time he had to get her and his goblins out of the castle before it collapsed. _"I'm done," _she whispered, eyes lowered, and he turned, gazing at the pit and core left in his hand. He smiled at her, "Good girl." He tossed it into the air nearby and it shattered in a bunch of pink sparkles. Whipping out his crystal, he reached down and cradled her head, holding it up as her eyes slowly became half lidded, _"Now go to sleep little one. I promise you'll be okay,"_ he whispered. She groaned, already weak and half asleep, then sighed, going limp, her eyes fluttering closed. He flicked the crystal again, and she disappeared in a shower of silver sparks, to form in miniature form lying down inside the crystal, along with the crown. Smiling, he stood up and tossed the crystal up once before catching it. Then the King turned, facing a window nearby that had already been blasted open, and pulling his arm back, took a firm, long step forward, flinging his arm forward and letting the crystal fly. The thing zoomed straight through the window and out into the air, and he watched it until it disappeared. With that Jareth groaned and rubbed his temple. He hadn't expected the girl to know that the crown had been remade after it'd been broken in Latvanian history. But luckily, she didn't know that the Latvanian Royal Craftsmen weren't the only ones who could repair or replace the crown. His goblins could even do it. Of course, maybe Arissa actually did know that, but since she was still so upset over what had happened and him reminding her of her beheaded friend, she hadn't thought about that. Either way, it had all worked out alright and now she was safely away from the battle. That was the important thing. Turning, Jareth faced the battle his goblins were engaging in behind him, and drew his sword again, lunging forward to reenter the fray.

Moments later, the Fae ruler fought alongside Grindelwald. The goblin leaned up to him, "Sire! The castle will fall soon! What are your orders?" Jareth gritted his teeth. Now that he knew the Princess was out of the castle, there really wasn't any reason to have to continue to stay inside of the structure . . . "Try to get as many Bosnians, Latvanians, Demons, and Angels out of the castle immediately! We have to evacuate as well! As quickly as possible!" he shouted, and drove his sword through the chest of the Bosnian before him, tearing straight through his heart and killing the barbarian. "Sir! The BOSNIANS?" Grindelwald gasped in disbelief. Jareth frowned, "It's too risky to leave too many in here. If they don't die, they could be lying in wait when the Latvanians return to rebuild. We don't need that. . . we need to drive them out and back to their borders, if that's possible. . . feel free to push them out of windows if you want. . . tell everyone that," Jareth muttered, lunging forward and taking down another warrior and his Bolf. Grindelwald nodded, and turning, rushed off to tell the other goblins what the King had said in order to send Jareth's orders down the line of goblin fighters.

The Fae's golden eyes gazed out over the Goblin City and Labyrinth as he leaned out over the window to the throne room of the Underground. Folding his arms and resting them on the ledge, he tilted his head down, frowning, his hair fluttering in the wind, the silky locks being of a deep red color that changed to orange as the locks went on down to their ends and then to gold at their tips. The last rays of sunlight were about to disappear from the darkening sky and the red and purple light such a thing produced made his eyes flare up in color. Such fire in his eyes was a sharp contrast to the beige billowy shirt he wore over his lean, muscular form, the brown vest he wore over that, and the black pants he wore that were neatly tucked into his brown boots. The Fae also wore black gloves, and was flexing the fingers on his left hand as he watched goblins move around their City. The sounds of the City were dying down, and the Labyrinth itself seemed to croon softly as if it too was going to sleep. But the Fae male was far from being sleepy. He'd assured Jareth that he'd stay to keep watch over the Goblin City in case there was a surprise attack while the Goblin King was away, and he so was _not _about to go to sleep. Not until the King returned. . . "James," a calm voice murmured from a doorway leading into the empty throne room.

He turned his head, gazing over his shoulder at the woman as she walked in, smiling weakly at him. The Fae woman had bright emerald green eyes that gazed calmly at him as she walked over, the half inch heels on her shoes clicking on the stone floor as she did so. The shoes were of a light, airy design with plenty of holes on top that let her feet breathe even if she walked around for long periods of time, and were a dark black color that matched her dress wonderfully. It was a long, chocolate brown dress with a design of silver vines and black flowers criss crossing and looping all around the skirt, upper torso, and long sleeves that clung tightly to her arms. The hems of the dress were of a chocolate brown base with some silver vines and black flowers on them as well. While the neckline was modest, the dress still fit her beautifully, with a small black sash magically attached to it and wrapped around her waist. The woman wore smooth, silky black gloves and carried a book that held information on every worker in the castle and what they needed to do in the upcoming days. Her long dark brown hair was swept back and tied with a black ribbon to hang in a ponytail fashion down her back. Over the day, the ponytail had come a bit loose, and two bangs hung beside either side of her face. Despite the loose strands and darker colors she wore, however, Viola still shined with her natural beauty.

The important thing about her, though, was the long golden chain with black stones inlaid inside of it that hung around her waist. At the end of the chain, just a few inches above where her knees came to in the dress, was a huge golden ring. On the ring were at least fifty golden keys of varying shapes and sizes. The keys could open almost every room in the entire Underground Castle, and also showed all present that she was in fact known as the Lady of the Castle, or in other words, the head maid.

In earlier years, before Jareth became Goblin King, she was his own personal nanny and caregiver. But James knew all too well that the bond between her and the King went much further than that. She was very much a surrogate mother to Jareth while he was growing up, if not more. This explained why he heightened her to such a good position when he was made King by his grandfather. Now, she had her own servant staff to tend that tended to her and kept her chambers tidy. On top of that, she had the authority to tell everyone else in the castle who was there as a servant what to do, whether they were Fae or Goblin. In this way tended to the castle and made sure it was kept running smoothly. In its walls, she was only second to the King. She would also be just second to the Queen, if Jareth were to ever marry anyone.

James smiled weakly at the Fae woman, "Hello, Viola." He turned and leaned against the ledge, now facing her, sighing. She smiled calmly back at the Fae male, walking up to him, _"James, don't worry. I'm sure your brother's fine,"_she whispered.

James sighed and nodded with his head bowed, and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. He hated it when his brother Jareth had to go off to fight. Especially when it was against Bosnians. Ever since their father was killed in battle with some Bosnians, he always feared that Jareth might meet the same fate one day. Viola sighed at his clear nervousness and put a hand on his shoulder, "James, Jareth is a good fighter. And will no doubt be back any minute now. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he . . . Wait . . . what the. . ." she frowned, her eyebrows creasing, gazing at something behind James. James frowned, stood upright, and turned. The two Fae stared, as the crystal flew quickly towards the throne room window.

James frowned, "He normally comes back in owl form. . ." "Maybe he's using a crystal so that he can transport himself and the goblin soldiers he took with him back here at once?" Viola said, shrugging as she frowned, watching the crystal come at top speed towards them. "But his crystals usually just float . . . not zoom. . ." James muttered quietly, frowning. At that, the redheaded Fae turned to Viola, staring with wide, frightened eyes at the other Fae, "Do you think he's badly hurt?" he asked fearfully. Viola gritted her teeth, gazing sadly at him, and turned back to look at the crystal again before. . . "DUCK!" she gasped, grabbing James and jerking him down as her own knees hit the floor as she crouched down, so that the crystal didn't slam into either of their heads. The two slowly stood, and turning, stared as the crystal hovered over the throne. James frowned, and took one step towards the crystal. At that moment, it shattered in a shower of glitter, and a girl formed within said shower. He stared. The girl had some blood on her, and a bloody crown could be seen held tightly in her hands, and the two could clearly tell she had the pale skin and hair of Latvanian royalty beneath the long silver dressing gown she wore. Her silver slipper covered feet hung in the air for a moment as she hovered in the air above the throne, before she slowly was lowered by the magic that had been in the crystal down onto Jareth's throne, her legs flopped over one arm of the throne and her neck lying against the other arm. As the two watched, her seemingly still chest began to rise and fall again, as she breathed easily through her mouth as she slept. James and Viola turned to one another, blinking. Then James cracked a grin, "Well, it'd definitely not Jareth." Viola smirked and winked at the red head, "You may be right. . . I definitely can think of a few ways she's a bit different from him. . ."

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A/N: So, was it worth the wait? What words would you use to describe this chapter? What are your thoughts about it? And please, is there anything that I need to fix or revise grammatically? I'd love to know, so please oh please write a review! I love reviews! Just no flamers, please. I like constructive criticism, not detrimental criticism. :) But hey, Jareth got to save a damsel in distress, now didn't he? *sniff*I'm so happy for him.*sniff* And as for Jareth's fighting style, I chose to have him spin around a lot because I wanted it to be close to how he danced in the movie in "Dance Magic Dance" I just feel like Jareth would have drab fighting styles. He'd spice them up a little. At least to me, he would.


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